Shakira earns major legal win in her years-long tax fraud case

Shakira recently earned legal win after the Spanish court acquitted her in tax fraud case on May 18.

In the court documents obtained by The Associated Press, the Spanish government has been ordered to return more than $64 million in wrongly imposed fines to the Colombian singer.

After the verdict, Shakira released a press statement to the BBC, saying, she had been “enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ultimately impacted my health and my family’s well-being for years”.

“There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true,” she said in her statement.

The Waka Waka crooner continued, “Yet, for nearly a decade, I was treated as guilty.”

Shakira further said, “Every step of the process was leaked, distorted and amplified, using my name and public image to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers.”

In the end, the singer added, “Today, that narrative crumbles, and it does so with the full force of a court ruling.”

The case was reportedly related to the 2011 tax year in which Spanish authorities alleged that Shakira was a resident of the country.

It is pertinent to note that to be a resident of Spain, an individual need to spend 183 days in the country, but she only lived in for 163 days, which led to this decision.

According to Shakira’s lawyer, José Luís Prada, “This resolution comes after an eight-year ordeal that has taken an unacceptable toll, reflecting a lack of rigor in administrative practices.”

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