Shakira has pledged to tackle the accusations against her, which she has claimed to be false. The claims stated that she has dodged 14.5 million euros in taxes.
Shakira, 45, is currently facing a trial in Spain after being accused of not paying taxes between 2012 and 2014. During this period, Shakira stated, she was leading a nomadic life because of work.
“I have to fight for what I believe because these are false accusations,” the ‘Waka Waka’ singer told Elle magazine during an interview published online in the United States on Wednesday. “I owe zero to them.”
Shakira, who rejected a deal in July with the prosecutor to settle the case, says the authorities only came after her “with their eyes on the prize” when they came to know that she was dating FC Barcelona soccer player Gerard Pique, who is Spanish.
“While Gerard and I were dating, I was on a world tour. “I spent more than 240 days outside of Spain, so there was no way I qualified as a resident,” she said.
“The Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It’s clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what,” the singer claimed.
Shakira further added details on how she had already paid what the Spanish tax office said she owed before they proceeded to file a lawsuit.
She believed she was confident in the way she behaved. She claimed she had been forthcoming from the beginning, implying that the Spanish authorities had instead “resorted to a salacious press campaign” to smear her reputation.
The singer is facing quite a difficult time at the moment with her recent separation from Pique, a custody battle for their two children, dealing with the illness of her father and ‘fighting on different fronts’. The singer said this was the darkest hour of her life.