A Spanish court has ruled that there is sufficient evidence for pop singer Shakira Mebarak to face trial on charges she defrauded the government out of €14.5 million of individual income tax and wealth tax.
In 2018 the Colombian-born singer paid over €20 million to settle a dispute over her 2011 tax liability, which was beyond the statute of limitations for criminal tax disputes but was pursued by the Spanish tax authority through administrative means. In late 2018 prosecutors indicted Shakira for tax fraud, alleging that she claimed to be a resident of the Bahamas when she was actually residing in Spain during 2012-2014.
In July 2021 an investigator for the Spanish tax agency challenged claims by Shakira's lawyers during a pretrial hearing that she was not a tax resident of Spain before 2015. The investigator told the court there was no evidence that Shakira spent any time in the Bahamas after 2012, and that she was in Spain for at least the 183 days required under law to establish residency for a tax year.
On May 26 the Barcelona High Court rejected Shakira’s petition to dismiss the charges against her on grounds that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence that she had spent more than 183 days in Spain during the years at issue.
While the court said Shakira should be tried on the tax charges, it ruled that there was insufficient evidence to put the singer’s lawyer, Ezequiel Camerini, on trial as well.
A copy of the court’s decision wasn’t available by press time.