Shakira is under investigation for tax fraud in a second case in Spain, as of July 20. Prosecutors are investigating her for fraud on her income and wealth tax in her 2018 filings, according to Reuters. The investigation comes as Shakira, 46, also undergoing an investigation into an alleged 14.5 million euros (about $14 million USD) owed in taxes from a two-year period from 2012 to 2014.
Not many details about the second investigation are readily available, but the investigation is happening in an Esplugues de Llobregat court, near Barcelona. Prosecutors are reportedly seeking an eight-year prison sentence for the “She-Wolf” hitmaker, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak.
Shakira’s lawyers have said that they haven’t received notification of the investigation, and learned about it from the news. They said the singer would need to be notified at her home in Miami. “The singer’s legal team will not make any comment until the notification reaches her through the formal and legally established channels,” they said in a statement to Reuters. “As she has already stated on numerous occasions, Shakira asserts that she has always acted in accordance with the law and under the advice of the best tax experts. She is now focused on her artistic life in Miami and is calm and confident that her tax affairs will be resolved favorably.”
The “Hips Don’t Lie” popstar first tax fraud investigation was approved to go to trial by a judge in September 2022. If found guilty, Shakira could also face eight years in prison for those charges. The trial is scheduled to begin in Barcelona in November, per Marca.
The singer has maintained her innocence through the investigation. “Shakira is a taxpayer who has always shown impeccable tax conduct and has never had tax problems in any other jurisdiction,” her lawyers told DailyMail in a November 2022 statement. “With no solid evidence to support the charges against her, she has been fiercely persecuted in the criminal and media spheres using unacceptable methods to damage her reputation and force her to come to a settlement agreement.”