Shakira faces 8 years jail term for tax fraud

Colombian singer and songwriter, Shakira, 46, has once again been accused by prosecutors of defrauding the Spanish treasury of £5.75 million, and may face up to eight years in prison if convicted.

The singer is already due to go on trial on November 20 at a court in Barcelona for six counts of tax fraud she allegedly committed in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

If found guilty of the six counts of tax fraud, amounting to £12.6 million, Shakira could face a prison sentence of up to eight years, Daily Mail reports Tuesday.

Shakira, however, has denied any wrongdoing and insisted she would fight the accusations levied against her in court instead of seeking a last-minute deal with Spanish state prosecutors.

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She said she had acted in accordance with the law and under the advice of the best tax experts.

Spanish tax inspectors reportedly spent more than a year checking up on Shakira, even visiting her favourite hairdressers in Barcelona and checking her social media to try to show she spent most of the three years in dispute in Spain.

They claimed she had spent 242 days in Spain in 2012, 212 days in 2013 and 243 days in the country in 2014 before indicting her with six counts of tax fraud for those three years.