(CNN Spanish) – Colombian singer Shakira must pay a fine of around $7.9 million (7.3 million euros) after she reached a last-minute agreement with the Spanish judiciary to avoid hearing in the Barcelona provincial court, where she would be tried on charges of committing six tax fraud offenses between 2012 and 2014.
After a long court case that began in 2018, everything indicates that the singer can breathe a sigh of relief again.
But now it was his lawyer Pau Molins who made a controversial statement. In an interview with Catalan media RAC1, Molins said that “love (with Piqué) cost him 120 million euros” (US$130 million).
Additionally, he pointed out that if Shakira had been in a relationship with Sevilla FC defender Sergio Ramos, “it would have cost her a lot less money.”
The lawyer assured that if the “Monotonía” interpreter had not been a resident of Catalonia, Spain, she would have been acquitted of three of the six crimes with which she was accused.”
Pau Molins, Shakira’s advocate: “Shakira’s love cost 120 million euros. If she falls in love with Sergio Ramos, it will have cost her a million dollars.”
The candid interview here: https://t.co/y6uFkPjyVP pic.twitter.com/MQJjeeiMG1
— El món a RAC1 (@elmonarac1) November 21, 2023
Pau Molins, Shakira’s advocate: “Shakira’s love cost 120 million euros. If she falls in love with Sergio Ramos, it will have cost her a million dollars.”“So much so that they fill their mouths with the equality of Spaniards… If you live in Catalonia you can go to prison for a crime that cannot bring you to Madrid with the same behavior because there is no inheritance tax.” said Molins to RAC1.
She explained that the court accused her of not having paid taxes between 2012 and 2014, despite the artist’s many trips away from Barcelona, but still: “The Spanish Ministry of Finance considers that she lived here for more than half the year and that’s why I did it to pay them.”
Although Shakira accepted the six allegations of tax fraud against her, the lawyer continues to defend her innocence.
“It’s a very complicated issue with artists from all over the world. “Where do they work when they’re traveling around the world all day?” Molis asked, arguing that it was difficult to determine where to pay his taxes when he was on a trip through 74 countries.
Molins said he told Shakira that they could have won if they had gone to court, but he chose to respect her decision, which had her and her children’s well-being in mind.
In a statement issued by her communications agency in Spain, Shakira said: “I felt ready to face trial and defend my innocence. There is no triumph in winning when the price is having so many years of your life stolen from you.”
“I have to pick my battles and the most important thing for me now is to do everything so that my children can live a full life and focus on what’s really important: watching them grow up and spending time with them,” added he added.
The lawyer pointed out that if Shakira’s true intention was to hide her income, but she had an international business structure for business efficiency, she could have done this too.