Shakira faces new investigation over alleged tax fraud in Spain

Colombian singer Shakira faces more trouble from Spain’s tax office after a court agreed to open an investigation into two more possible cases of tax fraud.

The Hips Don’t Lie singer, who has sold millions of records worldwide, is already set to face a trial for allegedly failing to pay €14.5m (£12.6m) in taxes on income earned between 2012 and 2014.

In that case, the prosecutor is seeking an up to eight-year prison term for the 46-year-old Grammy Award winner.

The singer, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, has denied any wrongdoing.

Now, a Spanish judge has agreed with state prosecutors to probe two possible cases of tax fraud by Shakira from 2018.

The court said it had no information on how much money is in question.

Shakira’s legal team said she had not received any notification of the new case and found out about it through the press.

“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.

Shakira is now living in Miami and she will have to be notified personally at her new address, they added.

Shakira’s public relations firm, Llorente y Cuenca, said the artist “always acted in concordance with the law and on the advice of her financial advisers”.

She is now focused on her artistic career in Miami and is calm and confident that she will receive a favourable resolution of her fiscal issues,” the firm said.

Both cases are being handled by a court in the town of Esplugues de Llobregat near Barcelona.

The first case set to go to trial hinges on where Shakira lived between 2012 and 2014.

Shakira spent more than half of that period in Spain and should have paid taxes in the country, even though her official residence was in the Bahamas, prosecutors in Barcelona allege.

Shakira has been linked to Spain since she started dating the now-retired footballer Gerard Pique.

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The couple, who have two children, lived together in Barcelona until last year when they ended their 11-year relationship.

Spain has cracked down on football stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo over the past decade for not paying their full due in taxes.

They were found guilty of evasion but both avoided prison time thanks to a provision allowing judges to waive sentences under two years in length for first-time offenders.

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