AL JAZEERA
A Spanish court has opened a new probe into Colombian music superstar Shakira for alleged income tax fraud.
The 46-year-old “Hips don’t Lie” singer, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, is already due to stand trial at the end of the year in Spain for allegedly failing to pay 14.5 million euros ($16.3m) in taxes on income earned between 2012 and 2014.
On Thursday, a court in the northeastern town of Esplugues de Llobregat near Barcelona said it had agreed with prosecutors to investigate two possible cases of tax fraud by Shakira from 2018.
The court did not provide further details in its statement.
Her representatives said she has not yet been notified of the new investigation, which they said she learned about through the media.
“As she has already said on numerous occasions, Shakira maintains she has always acted in accordance with the law and under the advice of the best tax experts,” they said in a statement.
“She is now focused on her artistic life in Miami and is calm and confident that her tax matters will be resolved favourably.”
Prosecutors have requested an eight-year sentence and fine of 24 million euros ($26.9m) in the first case after Shakira rejected a plea deal over the accusations of tax evasion.
That case centres on where the singer lived between 2012 and 2014.
Prosecutors say Shakira moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique became public, but maintained official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015.
