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Shakira pays Spain €7m to avoid prison for tax fraud
Barcelona court rules the singer had been resident in Spain
Shakira has reached a settlement with Spanish prosecutors to avoid a prison sentence for allegedly defrauding the state of €14.5 million.
The case could have resulted in an eight-year jail term and a €24 million fine for the pop star. But after weeks of negotiations the Colombian singer accepted the charges and agreed to a suspended sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 50 per cent of the amount owed, more than €7.3 million euros.
She also accepted a fine of €438,000 to avoid spending any time in prison, the judge in the court in Barcelona said. The trial, which would have included more than 100 witnesses over the following weeks, was instead called off after just two minutes.
The agreement,
