Shakira’s lawyer has blamed Gerard Pique for her tax woes – and said she would have saved £100million by dating his rival star Sergio Ramos instead.
Pau Molins said her 11-year romance with the retired Barcelona footballer led to her facing six tax fraud charges instead of three.
After finalising a plea deal yesterday, the lawyer claimed Spain’s tax laws are not fair to everyone. He said residents in Madrid – where Ramos played for Real – do not pay wealth tax.
But those living in Catalonia, where Shakira lived with Barca ace Pique, are required to pay wealth tax.
In turn, if Shakira had lived with Madrid-based Ramos, she would have saved around £100million due to the Real player not residing in an area where a wealth tax is paid.
Currently, Andalucia and Madrid are the only regions in Spain where wealth tax is exempt.
The Relationship
Speaking on the singer’s relationship with Pique, Molins said: “Shakira’s infatuation has cost her 120million euros. If she had fallen in love with Sergio Ramos instead of Gerard Pique, it would have cost her a lot less”.
He went on to add: “They go on about the equality of all Spaniards, but it turns out that if you’re resident in Catalonia you can go to jail for a crime, they couldn’t imprison you for in Madrid.”
He claimed this boiled down to the fact that there was no wealth tax in the Spanish capital.
Molins also insisted he had wanted to go to trial, saying: “I thought we could have won,” but said Shakira had decided to make a deal. He went on to defend his client, claiming: “With international artists, it’s very difficult.
“Where do they live if they spend all their lives traveling? In 2011 Shakira did a world tour and visited 74 countries. It’s very complicated to determine where they should pay their taxes.”
Shakira admitted six counts of tax fraud yesterday at a court in Barcelona and agreed to pay £7million in a deal to dodge a lengthy eight-year prison sentence.
She said she accepted the charges for the sake of her sons Milan, ten, and Sasha, 8, and so she can move on with her career.
In a statement issued through her representatives, Shakira said her lawyers were confident she would win the case but she opted to avoid a trial that would likely span several months.
The singer said: “Throughout my career, I have always strived to do what’s right and set a positive example for others.
“While I was determined to defend my innocence in a trial that my lawyers were confident would have ruled in my favour, I have decided to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her well-being in this fight.
“I need to move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years and focus on the things I love – my kids and all the opportunities to come in my career, including my upcoming world tour and my new album, both of which I am extremely excited about.
“I admire tremendously those who have fought these injustices to the end, but for me, today, winning is getting my time back for my kids and my career.”
The prosecution case is centred on whether Shakira was a resident of Spain or the Bahamas between the start of 2012 and the end of 2014.
She claimed she was a resident in the Bahamas between the three years in dispute – and says she shouldn’t have been considered a Spanish resident for tax purposes, despite starting to date her ex-Gerard Pique in 2010.
Her court trial, due to last until December 20 over 12 sessions, did not go ahead as a result of the plea bargain deal.
Judge Manuel del Amo confirmed in open court after hearing the singer’s guilty plea that in light of the agreement, he was handing her a three-year prison sentence – six months for each of the six counts of tax fraud she had admitted to.
He then added her prison time would be replaced by a fine.
