In an effort to move on from her breakup with Gerard Piqué, Shakira decided to relocate to Miami. This decision came amidst her ongoing legal battle, where she stands accused of evading payment of the Wealth Tax between 2012 and 2014, to the tune of almost 14.5 million euros. In spite of this, Shakira refrained from speaking negatively of Piqué, citing that he is the father of her children. She even went as far as to mention that she had made sacrifices for his career, such as residing in Barcelona so that he could play soccer.

The legal team representing the artist has claimed that she did not reside in Barcelona during the time period in question, but rather in the Bahamas. In an attempt to negotiate with the prosecution about the charges against her, they proposed an agreement involving a reduction in charges if she admitted to the facts. However, this effort was unsuccessful and the Prosecutor’s Office requested over eight years of imprisonment for six crimes against the Public Treasury. In September of last year, things became more complicated as the prosecution accused her of defrauding another 6 million euros, this time in 2018 when she was living in Spain with Piqué. The Prosecutor’s Office accused her of using a “network of companies” to evade taxes by falsely transferring her rights to these “paper” companies.

In both instances, a crucial figure emerged – Susana C. (whose full name has been kept confidential by the media), a Treasury inspector who pieced together the evidence and cast a shadow of doubt over the Barranquilla woman’s claims. Throughout her investigation, Susana C. did not turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to the case. The artist’s alibi that she was a nomad during that period and did not reside in Spain was dismissed by Susana C., who stated that the woman had already settled in a house located in the Esplugues de Llobregat area of Barcelona with the former Barcelona defender and their two children. As a result, Susana C. maintained that the woman was obligated to pay her taxes in Spain.

The inspector went to great lengths to investigate the artist’s tax payments, utilizing methods such as monitoring her social media, tracking where she was tagged by fans, overseeing her visits to commercial establishments, and even observing her shopping at El Corte Inglés. Jesús García, a journalist from El País, has been covering the judicial aspects of the case for several years and confirms that Shakira did indeed pay taxes in Spain.

As per Shakira’s statement, she believes that Hacienda is outdated and discriminatory towards her as they only view her as Piqué’s significant other. The author also shares this view and states that during the time period when Shakira was being investigated by the Treasury, she visited numerous countries but interestingly, not the Bahamas where she obtained a property and tax residency. This was also the same period when Shakira’s career was on the rise, with hits like “Waka Waka” and her successful El Dorado tour in 2018, which included the hit song “La Bicicleta” with Carlos Vives. However, despite her public success, the Prosecutor’s Office discovered that Shakira had omitted some of her income in her declaration for that year, specifically the million-dollar payments she received from her El Dorado tour, where she performed 53 concerts in 22 countries across Europe, the United States, and Latin America between June and November.