Julio Iglesias is reportedly weighing up whether to pursue Spanish prosecutors after they decided to abandon an initial investigation into sexual assault allegations made by two of his former employees.
Last week, state prosecutors said they were dropping the case after concluding that Spain's National Court lacked jurisdiction as the incidents were said to have taken place at the veteran singer's residences in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.
After days of silence, Iglesias, who's now 82, took to social media to deny the claims and express his sorrow, describing the allegations as "absolutely false."
According to a report in ElPais, his lawyers have requested complete access to the complaint by his former employees to determine if they "committed the crime of filing a false report (which is a crime in Spain)."
Earlier this month, two women accused the singer of sexual assault, harassment, human trafficking and violations of labour rights, in an investigation published by elDiario.es and Univision Noticias.
Iglesias's defence had explicitly requested that the case be dropped on jurisdiction grounds, arguing that allowing Spain to investigate events that took place outside national territory could undermine jurisdictional principles and enable forum shopping, something which, according to the singer's lawyer, would damage his reputation in Spain.
The NGO Women's Link Worldwide, which represents the complainants, had expressed its intention for the case to be investigated.
It also warned of possible attempts to discredit the allegations, while remaining firm in its defence of the victims and maintaining that, given the extremely serious accusations, access to justice must be guaranteed.
Iglesias has been among the world's most successful singers in the decades since his 1969 debut album, 'Yo Canto.' He has sold more than 300 million records in more than a dozen languages.
After making his start in Spain, Iglesias shot to stardom in the United States and the wider world in the 1970s and 1980s, partly due to duets with artists including Willie Nelson and Diana Ross.
He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 and in 1988 won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for his album 'Un Hombre Solo.'
He's also the father of pop star Enrique Iglesias.
