Shakira pays 6.6m euros in another Spain tax fraud case 

BARCELONA (AFP): Colombian superstar Shakira has paid 6.6 million euros ($7.2 million) to a Spanish court investigating her for unpaid taxes, her agent said Friday, just days after she reached a deal to avoid trial in another tax case.

Spanish prosecutors in July opened a second case against the 46-year-old singer, accusing her of using a network of companies, some of them based in tax havens, to cheat Spain’s tax office out of some 6.6 million euros in 2018, including interest and adjustments.

Shakira paid the court in August, the agency that represents her told AFP, confirming a report in the daily newspaper El Periodico.

The 6.6-million-euro payment does not imply either the singer’s guilt or innocence in the case, but is “another demonstration of her willingness to repay her possible debts to the Spanish tax authorities”, the newspaper said.

Separately, the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer Monday reached a last-minute settlement with Spanish prosecutors to avoid trial for tax fraud on income she earned between 2012 and 2014.

As part of that deal, Shakira agreed to pay a fine of 7.3 million euros, equal to 50 per cent of the amount of unpaid tax.

She had already paid 17.45 million euros to the Spanish tax authorities to settle her situation in this case.

The singer, who had previously rejected a deal offered by prosecutors, said in a statement she had settled “with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight”.

Shakira moved to Miami with her two sons in April following her split from former FC Barcelona star defender Gerard Pique.