Photo Credit: Shakira in Madison Square Garden by Shakira111 / CC by 4.0
A Spanish court acquitted Shakira in a tax fraud case dating back to 2011, ordering the government to return over $64 million in wrongly imposed fines.
On Monday, court documents revealed that a Spanish court acquitted Shakira in a tax fraud case that stems back to the 2011 tax year. As a result, the government has been ordered to return over 55 million euros ($64 million) in incorrectly imposed fines.
The ruling follows over a decade of tax-related headaches for the Colombian star. The decision stems from a dispute from the 2011 tax year in which Spanish authorities failed to prove Shakira was a resident of the country. To be considered a tax resident in Spain, a person must spend over 183 days a year in the country.
But Spanish authorities were only able to prove that Shakira lived in Spain that year for 163 days, the court said. Therefore, the Treasury has been ordered to reimburse Shakira the tax paid plus interest.
At the time, the Spanish tax agency argued that Shakira was a resident of the country through her relationship with ex-soccer player Gerard Piqué, and that her main economic activities were based within Spain. However, the Spanish High Court ruled that the relationship could not be legally considered a marital one, nor could they prove that her economic interests or activities in 2011 were directly located in Spain.
“After more than eight years of enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ultimately impacted my health and my family’s well-being, the National High Court has finally set the record straight,” said Shakira. “There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true.”
“Every step of the process was leaked, distorted, and amplified, using my name and public image to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers,” she added. “Today, that narrative crumbles, and it does so with the full force of a court ruling.”
“My greatest wish is that this ruling sets a precedent for the Treasury and serves the thousands of ordinary citizens who are abused and crushed every day by a system that presumes their guilt and forces them to prove their innocence at the cost of economic and emotional ruin,” Shakira concluded. “This victory is for them.”
