Shakira accuses Spanish authorities of 'burning' her 'at the stake' after settling $15M tax evasion battle
Shakira slammed Spanish authorities after she settled her $15 million tax fraud case.
The "Hips Don’t Lie" singer spoke out about her legal battle and admitted what angered her the most about the tax fraud case.
"The most frustrating thing was seeing that a state institution seemed more interested in publicly burning me at the stake than in listening to my reasons," Shakira shared with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, per People magazine.
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The Colombian music star said she agreed to settle her multimillion-dollar tax evasion battle to "protect" her two young sons.
"I want to leave my children the legacy of a woman who explained her reasons calmly and in her own time, when she considered it necessary, not when she was forced to," Shakira remarked.
"I need them to know that I made the decisions I made to protect them, to be by their side and to get on with my life. Not out of cowardice or guilt."
She shares two children, Milan,11, and Sasha, 9, with ex Gerard Piqué.
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Shakira continued, "They wanted to make the public believe that I did not pay my taxes, when the truth is that I paid much more than I should have." She claimed that she only decided to live in Spain in 2015, and when she did, authorities "immediately tried to charge" her taxes for the past 10 years.
"What seemed like a polite way of formalizing my situation turned out to be a trap," she stated. "A person who spends their time touring the world cannot have the intention of being a tax resident in a place just because the person they are in a relationship with at the time lives there."
She also accused Spanish tax authorities of "intimidating people, threatening them with jail, putting our children’s peace of mind at risk and putting us under pressure to break us."
"There may be those who wonder why I am bothering to make these statements now," she said. The first reason is my children. We have lived in an era marked by a tone of arrogance from the State, but bullying is not the same as giving reasons. Things are not solved by burning one public figure at the stake every year as if it were an Inquisition trial in order to recover lost prestige."
She added, "No one can write my story for me. Just like with my songs, I sing to live peacefully again, to turn the page."
Shakira was accused of owing 6.7 million euros ($7.2 million) in taxes on her 2018 income. The Spanish government claimed Shakira had used an offshore company to evade paying the money, but the charges were dropped in May.
She settled a separate tax evasion issue with the Spanish government in November. Prosecutors said the Colombian singer lived in Barcelona for more than half of the time between 2012 and 2014 and racked up a tax bill of $15.4 million.
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The "Whenever, Wherever" singer claimed that her official residence was in the Bahamas during that time — meaning she did not owe the Spanish government those taxes.
On the first day of the trial, Shakira chose to take a deal despite her decision to turn down a previous offer.
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Shakira was given a fine of 7 million euros ($7.6 million) in addition to a suspended three-year sentence. The musician was also fined an additional 432,000 euros ($472,000).
Had she been found guilty, she could have spent eight years in jail and received a fine of over $26 million.
"While I was determined to defend my innocence in a trial that my lawyers were confident would have ruled in my favor, I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter 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's legal team told Fox News Digital at the time.
Fox News Digital's Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.