MADRID, Spain, July 29 (Reuters) – According to a prosecutor’s office document seen on Friday, a Spanish prosecutor is seeking an eight-year prison term for Colombian diva Shakira over a 14.5 million euro tax fraud case.
Prosecutors offered the artist, who has sold more than 80 million songs worldwide, a deal earlier this week to end the case, but he rejected it.
Shakira has been accused of tax evasion between 2012 and 2014, a period during which she claims she was not a resident of Spain at the time of the alleged violations.
According to a document seen by Reuters, Shakira purchased a house in Barcelona in May 2012, which became a family home for her, her girlfriend, and their kid, born in Spain in 2013, over the period from 2012 to 2014.
If found guilty, she faces an eight-year prison sentence as well as a $23.5 million fine. The trial has not yet been scheduled.
To respond, Shakira’s team cited her prior statement from Wednesday, in which the singer claimed to be “completely certain of her innocence” and called the lawsuit “a blatant breach of her rights.” They did not go further.
The last settlement offer’s terms remain secret.
In an interview with a Spanish newspaper, the 45-year-old singer known as “Queen of Latin Pop” said that she paid the 17.2 million euros in back taxes that the Spanish tax office claimed she owed and that she now owes the government nothing.
Shakira and Gerard Pique announced their separation a month ago, and now the next step in the tax battle is making headlines. They’ve been together since 2011 and have two sons, a daughter and a son-in-law.