Isabel Pantoja faces 3 years in prison for insolvency, which she denies

Málaga (Spain), 22 Mar Spanish singer Isabel Pantoja is facing three years in prison in a new trial that began this Tuesday, accused of punishable insolvency, having not faced a debt for the construction of one of her houses, an accusation that she rejects. Pantoja, who has enjoyed great popularity as a singer, both in Spain and Latin America, today tearfully denied having committed any crime. Dressed in black and with a nervous look, she assured the judge that when she heard about the embargo on the debts of that house, located in the city of Marbella (southern Spain), she was in prison, convicted of another crime and “had no head at all”, in addition to having given power of attorney to her brother Agustín Pantoja to manage her affairs. However, the prosecutor maintains that the company of which Pantoja was the sole administrator (Panriver) and another company (the construction company Codabe) acted to the detriment of the credit rights of a third company and to do so “were arranged to benefit each other”, so he faces a tax petition of three years in prison. The Public Prosecutor considered the artist a “necessary cooperator” in the crime of insolvency and insisted that both she and the accused Codabe businessman say “they know nothing, despite being sole administrators of their companies”, and therefore considered Pantoja's statement “discredited”. The trial was seen for sentencing and if Pantoja is guilty, and the judge responds to the tax request, it would add up to a second prison sentence. She has already been sentenced to two years in prison for money laundering, for the illicit profits obtained by her former partner the former mayor of Marbella (south) Julián Muñoz in his management at the head of the City Council of that city. For this reason, he was in prison from November 2014 to March 2016, after having served two-thirds of his sentence. Since then she has had little public activity, except for a few concerts and television appearances such as her participation in a reality television program called “survivientes”, which was recorded in Honduras, or another program in which she participated as a jury in a children's music competition. CHIEF mmj/vg/ros/ma/ads (photo) (video)