Shakira Feels She Was 'Publicly Burned At The Stake' By Spanish Treasury After Paying $8M To Avoid Jail

Singer Shakira has broken her silence on her highly publicized tax fraud case, revealing she feels victimized by the Spanish treasury's handling of the situation.

The singer likened the incident to a witch hunt, claiming she was "publicly burned at the stake."

Shakira has since implied that she admitted to the wrongdoing instead of going to trial with the authorities because she wanted to "protect her children."

After paying a substantial £6.4 million [$8 million] fine and admitting to the wrongdoing," the "Hips Don't Lie" singer accused the Spanish treasury of "publicly burning her at the stake" like a witch during their investigation.

Shakira has been embroiled in a legal row with the Spanish authorities after they accused her of committing six counts of tax fraud in 2012, 2013, and 2014.

She has now accused the Spanish tax authorities of launching a "smear campaign" of intimidation which seemingly portrayed her as a "hunting trophy."

"It may seem incomprehensible, but for me, the Spanish decade was a financially lost decade, and not because I worked little, as everyone knows," she said, per the Daily Mail. "I gave 120 concerts in 90 different cities. How can a person who gives 120 concerts lose money? It sounds strange, I know, but today my assets consist of what I earned before arriving in Spain and what I earned after leaving it. Everything I earned in those years went to the Spanish State."

According to the news outlet, the singer maintained that she chose not to fight in court with the agency to "protect her children."

"More than trying to punish those who do not comply, the Spanish Tax Agency wants to show off hunting trophies to rebuild a credibility in question," she said. "And how is that achieved? By frightening people, threatening them with jail time, compromising the peace of mind of our children, and putting us under pressure to break us."

"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 explained.

Shakira, whose real name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, was dating former Barcelona and Spanish defender Gerard Pique at the time but claimed she wasn't permanently resident in the country until she registered as a full-time tax resident in 2015.

The Spanish authorities sought to hand her an eight-year, two-month jail term and a nearly £21 million fine if she was found guilty of the charges.

However, she proceeded to plead guilty in a November 2023 court session because she was seemingly tired of the whole situation.

The tax agency didn't agree with her assertion that she was a resident of the Bahamas between the start of 2012 and the end of 2014; hence, she should have paid taxes there.

They claimed she was living in Spain "on a regular basis" between those years and that her absence from the country for work and other commitments was "sporadic."

Shakira, who had repeatedly denied wrongdoing, said she settled "with the best interest of my kids at heart."

"Things are not solved by burning a public figure every year at the stake as if it were a process of the Inquisition to recover lost prestige," she said in her emotional letter. "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 do so."

"I need them to know that I made the decisions I made to protect them, to be by their side and move on with my life. Not out of cowardice or guilt," she added.

According to the Daily Mail, the Grammy-winning singer also claimed that her troubles with the law manipulated her desires to make her relationship with Pique work, accusing them of being sexist.

"If the singer had been an American man, had fallen in love with a Spanish woman and visited her regularly, I find it difficult to believe that the Tax Agency would have considered that he had an intention to settle," she claimed.

She continued, "A person who spends his time on tour around the world cannot have the intention of fiscally residing in a place just because the person with whom he is currently in a relationship lives there."

"It would be the same as thinking that a tourist who holidays in Ibiza has to become a tax resident just because she has had a local romance," Shakira added.

The "She Wolf" singer started dating the former football star in 2010. By 2022, they were involved in an ugly breakup after he allegedly cheated on her with his now-girlfriend, Clara Chia. The former couple shares sons Milan and Sasha.