Shakira faces second investigation into alleged tax fraud in Spain

By Al Goodman and Claudia Rebaza, CNN

(CNN) — A judge in Barcelona has opened a second investigation into alleged tax fraud by Grammy-winning singer Shakira, a Spanish court said Thursday.

An investigating magistrate in the Barcelona suburb of Esplugues de Llobregat “has opened an investigation drawing on a complaint filed by prosecutors against the singer Shakira for two alleged counts” of tax fraud in 2018, the Higher Court of Justice of Catalonia press office said in a statement.

Shakira is already awaiting trial for alleged tax evasion of $16.2 million for the years of 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The Colombian-born singer, who now lives in Miami, earlier denied the charges of tax fraud relating to the period 2012-2014 through her public relations firm

Shakira reiterated her innocence on Thursday.

“As has been stated on numerous occasions, Shakira defends having always acted in compliance with the law and under the guidance of the best tax experts,” her public relations team said in a statement to CNN Thursday.

“Now she is focused on her artistic life in Miami and is calm and confident in a favorable resolution to her tax affairs,” it added. Shakira has not yet received formal notification about the latest investigation and she expects that will be done at her Miami home, according to her legal team.

In July 2021, a judge at a court near Barcelona ruled that the singer could stand trial for alleged tax evasion. In a ruling obtained by CNN, the investigating magistrate said there was “sufficient evidence” to hold a trial for Shakira’s alleged tax evasion for the years of 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Judge Marco Jesús Juberías argued that Shakira lived more than 200 days in Spain in each of those three years, making her liable to pay taxes in the country.

At the time, Spanish media reported that Shakira’s team argued her main residence was in the Bahamas. But local media reported she had a home in the Barcelona area with her former partner, Gerard Piqué, the former FC Barcelona football defender.

Piqué and Shakira, who have two children together, announced their split in June 2022.

The judge argued that Shakira and a financial adviser, also named in the ruling, used a series of companies in off-shore tax havens to attempt to hide the sources of her income during those years.

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