Colombian singer Shakira is set to stand trial in Spain for six alleged tax crimes.
The Barcelona court believes she evaded around €14.5m (£13m, $14m) in tax, according to the BBC.
The singer was offered to settle the charges in July 2022, but she refused, forcing the Spanish prosecution to bring a tax fraud case against her.
If found guilty, Shakira faces an eight-year prison sentence and a fine of around €23.8m. She has reportedly denied all charges.
Her legal team said they will present their arguments “at the appropriate time”, while the singer told the Spanish edition of Elle magazine she is confident she has “enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favour”.
A date for the trial has not been set yet.
Details
Shakira is accused of failing to pay taxes in Spain between 2012 and 2014. But she claims she did not live in the country during that period of time.
Prosecutors allege this to be not true, however, because the singer bought a house in Barcelona in 2012 which became a family home for herself, her footballer husband Gerard Pique and her son, who was born in Spain in 2013.
But Shakira is not the only high-profile figure to get in trouble with the Spanish tax authorities.
Other similar cases include her husband Pique, Carlo Ancelotti, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Javier Mascherano, Samuel Etoo, Alexis Sanchez, and Diego Costa.
Football manager Jose Mourinho also admitted failing to pay tax, while former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso was cleared of three counts of tax fraud on 26 November 2019.
