Prosecutors in Spain have Asked for an Eight-year Sentence for Shakira

Marie Test

Prosecutors in Barcelona announced Friday that they would seek a prison sentence of more than eight years for global music superstar Shakira after she rejected a plea deal over tax evasion allegations.

Prosecutors are seeking a nearly 24 million euro fine from the 45-year-old “Hips Don’t Lie” songstress, accusing her of defrauding the Spanish tax office of 14.5 million euros ($14.7 million) on income earned between 2012 and 2014.

The court must now decide whether to hold a trial and set a date.

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.

Shakira has slammed the prosecutors for their “complete violation of her rights” and “abusive methods,” claiming they were “insisting on claiming money earned during my international tours and the show ‘The Voice,'” on which she was 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.

Shakira’s legal team claims she only moved to Spain full-time in 2015 and has fulfilled all tax obligations.

She claims she has paid 17.2 million euros in taxes to the Spanish government and has “no debt to the treasury for many years.”

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