Shakira scores big win in tax evasion battle as prosecutors move to dismiss ... trends now
Shakira scored a big victory in a second investigation involving her taxes in Spain.
The hitmaker, 47, was accused of owing Spain 6.7 million euros ($7.2 million) in taxes on her 2018 income via an offshore company, though she has denied any wrongdoing.
And on Wednesday prosecutors moved to dismiss the case, claiming 'there is not sufficient evidence' to proceed, according to reporting by AP.
The investigating judge will decide whether to continue with the probe, and if the case should be tried or dismissed.
It comes after Shakira struck a deal in November with prosecutors over alleged unpaid taxes from between 2012 and 2014. She was given a suspended three-year sentence and fined approximately $7.6 million.
Shakira, 47, scored a big victory in a second investigation involving her taxes in Spain, as prosecutors moved to dismiss the case; Shakira seen leaving court in Barcelona in 2023
Spanish prosecutors in July 2023 opened a second case against the singer, accusing her of using a network of companies, some of them based in tax havens, to cheat Spain's tax office in 2018.
Shakira paid the court in August, the agency that represents her told AFP, confirming a report in daily newspaper El Periodico.
Her payment does not imply either the singer's guilt or innocence in the case, but is 'another demonstration of her willingness to repay her possible debts to the Spanish tax authorities', the newspaper said.
Officials confirmed in July that Shakira was being probed over suspected 2018 tax breaches.
A spokesman for Catalonia's High Court of Justice said at the time: 'Court of Instruction Number 2 in Esplugues de Llobregat has opened a procedure following a complaint presented by prosecutors against the singer Shakira for two suspected tax crimes related to income tax and wealth tax for the Spanish tax year of 2018.'
Shakira said after admitting to tax fraud for the years 2012 to 2014 at a court in Barcelona that she had done it for her career and her two sons Milan and Sasha.
In a lengthy statement issued through her PR representatives she said: 'I have to choose my battles and the most important thing for me right now is that my children live a full life and I focus on what is really important: watching them grow and spending time with them, without submitting them to the anguish of seeing their mother in a court trial with the damage that causes.
'They themselves asked me to do this and I've taken this decision for them.
On Wednesday prosecutors claimed 'there is not sufficient evidence' to proceed with the investigation, according to reporting by AP; singer is
