Spanish prosecutors want to send Shakira to prison for 8 years for tax fraud, report says, after she refuses plea deal

• A Spanish prosecutor asked for Shakira to be jailed for more than eight years for tax fraud, El País reported.
• She is accused of failing to pay tax in Spain, though she says she doesn't live there.

Spanish prosecutors have recommended that the singer Shakira be imprisoned for eight years and two months for tax fraud, the Spanish newspaper El País reported.

They also said she should pay a fine of $23.51 million (23.7 million euros), El País reported.

Spanish prosecutors first filed charges against Shakira in 2018, saying she failed to pay $16.3 million (14.5 million euro) in tax there.

Prosecutors said Shakira was spending so much time in Spain — as she was dating the Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué — that she owed the country tax, El País reported.

Shakira and Piqué announced their separation after 11 years last month.

Shakira rejected a plea deal with Spanish prosecutors earlier this week and opted to take the case to trial.

The "Hips Don't Lie" singer's publicists said in a statement that she "trusts her innocence and chooses to leave the issue in the hands of the law," according to Billboard.

Shakira said since the investigation started she had been legally residing in the Bahamas, El País reported. She said she was not living in Spain, Reuters reported.