“Didn’t Messi and Ronaldo get away with it?”- Twitter erupts after FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique’s ex-partner Shakira could face a 8-year prison time after tax fraud
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Prosecutors in Spain said on Friday that they would seek a prison sentence of more than eight years for Popstar Shakira after she rejected a plea deal over tax evasion allegations.
Prosecutors in Barcelona will also seek a fine of nearly 24 million euros ($24.5 million) from the 45-year-old “Hips Don’t Lie” singer, accusing her of defrauding 14.5 million euros from the Spanish tax office between 2012 and 2014.
The news has been a talking point all over social media with some netizens comparing Shakira’s situation to that of football icons Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who got away with it with minimal fuss. Here are some interesting tweets from the fans who all are majorly acting as Shakira aid in tax evading allegations:
Shakira, who has sold over 60 million albums, rejected a plea deal on Wednesday, saying she was “absolutely certain of her innocence” and had decided to go to court, “confident” that her innocence would be proven. A formal referral to court has yet to be announced, and no trial date has been set.
Lawyers for Shakira, one of the biggest names in global music, say an agreement is still possible until the trial begins. Prosecutors claim Shakira relocated to Spain in 2011 after her relationship with FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique became public, but she kept her official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015. The couple, who have two children together, separated in June.
Shakira claims the majority of her income had been earned before moving to Spain in 2015
On Wednesday, the actress blasted the prosecutor’s office for “complete violation of her rights” and “abusive methods.” She claimed prosecutors were “insisting on claiming money earned during my international tours and the show ‘The Voice,’” on which she served as a judge in the United States when she was “not yet resident in Spain.”
Between 2013 and 2014, Shakira appeared on the singing competition show. Her lawyers claim that she earned the majority of her money from international tours until 2014, moved to Spain full-time only in 2015, and has met all tax obligations.
She claims to have paid 17.2 million euros in taxes to Spanish authorities and to have “no debt to the Treasury for many years.” In May, a Barcelona court denied the singer’s request for the charges to be dropped. Shakira was named among public figures linked to offshore assets in one of the largest ever leaks of financial documents, known as the “Pandora Papers,” in October 2021.
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Sujeeth Shetty
(766 Articles Published)