Montserrat Caballé handed suspended jail sentence for tax evasion

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 a global splash when she sang Barcelona with Queen 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 video-link 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.