Spanish prosecutors charge 81-year-old soprano with failing to declare half a million euros.

Legendary Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé has been charged with tax evasion for failing to declare around 500,000 euros of income (that’s around $750,00 Australian).

Court documents show that the 81-year-old soprano is accused of withholding the income from performances she gave in the tiny Principality of Andorra back in 2010. Caballé allegedly stated that she was resident in Andorra at the time when in reality she was living in Spain. Barcelona prosecutors maintain that her residency claim was made solely for the purpose of “not paying tax to the Spanish Public Treasury.”

The lyric soprano, who is still performing despite her frankly limited vocal resources, gave a lucrative series of concerts in 2010 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Russia and the Ukraine which, along with a number of recordings, netted her over two million euros that tax year. Prosecutors also accuse her of billing the majority of her concerts through an Andorran registered company, again with the “aim of ensuring that the Treasury did not have knowledge of her income and her true residency in Spain and so was unable to demand the...