A Spanish prosecutor is seeking an eight-year prison sentence for Colombian superstar Shakira in a 14.5 million euro tax fraud case, a prosecutor’s office document has revealed.
The singer, who has sold more than 80 million records worldwide with hits such as Hips Don’t Lie, earlier this week rejected a plea deal from the prosecutor’s office to close the case, Reuters writes.
She is accused of failing to pay taxes between 2012 and 2014, during which Shakira says she did not live in Spain.
The prosecutor’s document, seen by Reuters, claims Shakira was habitually resident in Spain between 2012 and 2014 and in May 2012 bought a house in Barcelona which became a family home for herself, her partner and their newborn son in Spain in 2013. The document called for an eight-year prison sentence and a fine of more than 23 million euros if she was found guilty. No trial date has been set.
The 45-year-old singer said she has paid tax authorities €17.2 million, which the Spanish tax office said she owed, and claimed she had no outstanding debt.
The latest development in the case comes a month after Shakira and her husband, FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, announced they were separating. Shakira, 45, and Pique, 35, have been together since 2011 and have two sons.
