The Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé has been handed a six-month suspended jail sentence and fined more than €250,000 (£180,000) for tax evasion.
The 82-year-old soprano, who made millions of new fans outside the world of classical music when she sang Barcelona with Queen’s lead singer, Freddie Mercury, at the 1992 Olympic Games, had previously struck a deal with prosecutors over the case, which was ratified by a judge in Barcelona on Tuesday.
Caballé appeared at the hearing via videolink from her home for health reasons after suffering a stroke in 2012. She was also ordered to pay more than €72,000 to tax authorities.
The diva, hailed as one of the world’s greatest voices, was placed under investigation last year, accused of channelling earnings through a company in Andorra when she lived in Barcelona and thus defrauding tax authorities of €500,000, which she has since paid.
Barcelona-born Caballé toured the world in a career that spanned 50 years. She achieved international acclaim in 1965 when she stepped in for another singer in the notoriously difficult role of Lucrezia Borgia in Donizetti’s opera in New York. Her debut went down in opera history as one of the greatest overnight successes. link
That's the situation in Spain. Catalonia wants to be a different country, and the powers from Madrid are accusing all catalonian symbols (sportsmen, singers, politicians) of all what they can, most of the time the charges aren't even legit.
master marathon runner wrote:
It was quite an achievement that her and Freddie sang Barcelona at the 1992 Olympics, especially as Freddie had been dead some 7 months.
Tbf The video of Freddie and Montserrat was played on the screens in the stadium immediately before the opening ceremony began. It finished, then It went straight into a 30? maybe 20 second countdown and the opening ceremony started.
you can hear a bit of it here at the beginning... It wasn't shown on TV, but in the stadium the video was on the screen. link
They gave her a suspended jail sentence? To an 82 year old woman? What - will they make the sentence effective if she commits another crime during the period of suspension? I'd like to see them try to send her to prison.
Meanwhile pieces of shit criminals in the UK commit violent crimes and get away with the same suspended sentence.
master marathon runner wrote: It was quite an achievement that her and Freddie sang Barcelona at the 1992 Olympics, especially as Freddie had been dead some 7 months.
Reminds me of the copies of Made In Heaven you'll see on eBay from time to time... signed by ALL FOUR MEMBERS OF THE BAND.
Impressive.
master marathon runner wrote: It was quite an achievement that her and Freddie sang Barcelona at the 1992 Olympics, especially as Freddie had been dead some 7 months.
Reminds me of the copies of Made In Heaven you'll see on eBay from time to time... signed by ALL FOUR MEMBERS OF THE BAND.
Impressive.
Doga wrote:
That's the situation in Spain. Catalonia wants to be a different country, and the powers from Madrid are accusing all catalonian symbols (sportsmen, singers, politicians) of all what they can, most of the time the charges aren't even legit.
Interesting.
So are you suggesting they're exaggerating, or outright fabricating?
Is a common practice for both the "left" and "right" wings. Maybe in this case with Caballe is just for money, i don't know. But let's say the separation of powers doesn't work that well in Spain.