The Colombian singer Shakira, who is facing trial in Spain over allegations that she failed to pay 14.5m (12.1m) in taxes, has accused the country’s fiscal authorities of waging “a salacious press campaign” against her and insisted she owes them nothing.
According to Spanish prosecutors, Shakira and her family lived in Barcelona between 2012 and 2014, meaning she should have paid tax in Spain on her worldwide income for those years. They are seeking an eight-year prison sentence and a fine of more than 23m if she is convicted.
The Hips Don’t Lie and She Wolf singer, 45, used an interview with Elle magazine to address what she termed “false accusations” and said she was heading to court as “a matter of principle”.
Asked why she had rejected a settlement offer, Shakira said: “Because I have to fight for what I believe; because these are false accusations. First of all, I didn’t spend 183 days per year at that time at all. I was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world.
“Second, I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So as of today, I owe zero to them.”
The artist also said she was confident she had looked after her finances “correctly and transparently” because she had been advised by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
She went on to lay into the Spanish tax authorities, accusing them of pursuing celebrities such as Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso as well as regular tax payers.
“Even without evidence to support these...
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