Shakira to appear in Barcelona court on the first day of her tax fraud trial in Spain

By JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Global pop star Shakira has been summoned to a Barcelona courthouse to attend the first day of her trial for allegedly defrauding Spanish tax officials of millions of euros. Shakira on Monday will face six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government 14.5 million euros (now $15.8 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014. She has denied any wrongdoing and says she has paid everything she owed. The case hinges on where Shakira lived during that period. Prosecutors in Barcelona have alleged that the Colombian singer spent more than half of that period in Spain and therefore should have paid taxes in the country even though her official residence was in the Bahamas.