Opera star Montserrat Caballé agrees to six-month sentence over tax fraud

Opera star Montserrat Caballé has reached a deal with the public prosecutor to receive a six-month prison sentence and a €240,000 fine for defrauding the Spanish tax office of €500,000 by claiming to live in Andorra.

The soprano, who has already returned the defrauded €500,000 to the Tax Agency, on Tuesday signed the agreement drawn up by the public prosecutor, judicial sources told the Efe newswire. The document will have to be ratified before the criminal court judge to avoid the case going to trial.

Sources say Caballé is not in good health and very rarely leaves her house

Eighty-one-year-old Caballé is under investigation for tax fraud after she listed herself as resident of Andorra to avoid paying tax in Spain, despite living in the country in 2010. At the time, she was residing in Barcelona and only visited the principality for professional reasons.

It is unlikely that the singer will ultimately serve any jail time given that the sentence is under two years and she has no prior convictions. According to sources close to her, Caballé is not in good health: she very rarely leaves her house, and the investigation is reported to have taken its toll on her. “She is in a very fragile state of health,” the sources told Europa Press, without revealing further details of the agreement, in compliance with the sentence that the judge will have to pass.