Shakira Addresses ‘Fictional’ Tax Fraud Allegations: ‘This is Probably the Darkest Hour of My Life’

variety.com:

Thania Garcia In 2018 the Spanish government accused Shakira of tax evasion, with authorities seeking an eight-year prison sentence for the singer, who has adamantly denied the accusations instead of seeking a settlement.

Shakira spoke at length about the charges for the first time in a new Elle cover story, calling them “false accusations” and claiming she has paid what she owes.

Posed with the court’s argument that she was a resident of Spain for tax purposes from 2011 to 2014, Shakira refuted the point and said she “was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world,” and affirmed, “as of today, I owe zero to [Spanish government].” “However, even without evidence to support these fictional claims, as they usually do, they’ve resorted to a salacious press campaign to try to sway people, and apply pressure in the media along with the threat of reputational damage in order to coerce settlement agreements,” she continued. “It is well known that the Spanish tax authorities do this often not only with celebrities like me (or [Cristiano] Ronaldo, Neymar, [Xabi] Alonso, and many more), it also happens unjustly to the regular taxpayer.

It’s just their style. But I’m confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favor.” When the case was reported by media outlets around the world in December of 2018, Shakira shared a brief statement on the issue through her representatives stating that the government was using her “as a scapegoat” to get guilty taxpayers to confess their crimes.