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The process began in 2014, when DIAN ordered the seizure of 22 compactor vehicles because, in its understanding, the required legal procedures were not followed. According to the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, the confiscation process was not well supported and now DIAN must return the trucks or make a payment according to the value of the vehicles.
More than six years after the National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN) ordered the confiscation of 22 garbage compactor trucks, which were acquired by the administration of former mayor Gustavo Petro for the cleaning scheme that he tried to implement, the court decided that the process of confiscation of the merchandise was not well supported. The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca ruled against DIAN and ordered it to annul the resolutions with which the vehicles were seized and, in addition, return the trucks or, failing that, make a payment according to the value at which they were appraised at the time of confiscation.
The facts that are the subject of the lawsuit date back to the 2013 agricultural strike (between August and September), when the District had to process the re-export of the trucks given that they had a temporary permit to stay in the country. According to the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, at that time it was impossible to mobilize vehicles to Cartagena or Cúcuta, for re-exportation. Aguas de Bogotá tried to extend the deadline to carry out this process, but the DIAN did not agree to the intentions of the district entity and began the process of seizing the trucks.
The embargo became effective in March 2014, at which time Aguas de Bogotá sued the process, arguing that the DIAN’s reasons for making that decision were poorly supported. For example, according to the plaintiff entity, the DIAN never exposed the restrictions that the trucks had in order not to be able to extend the period of stay in the country. They also argued that at that time it was impossible to transfer the trucks due to the mobility conditions derived from the agricultural strike.
In addition to these arguments, which were accepted by the Court, it also determined that the DIAN was wrong in making the decision to confiscate the trucks since it suspended all customs operations due to the agricultural strike, but did not have the same consideration with the operator as had the task of mobilizing the 22 trucks.
And although the defendant entity defended itself by ensuring that during the confiscation process all the laws that could govern trucks applied, which were used and therefore could not be imported like other merchandise, in the end the Court rectified the DIAN’s decision and He assured that the confiscation procedure was not only done badly but it was uneven and contrary to the measures that were adopted on account of the agricultural strike.
In a timely manner, the ruling ordered the annulment of resolutions 258 of February 17, 2014 and 562 of April 11, 2014, issued respectively by the Cúcuta Control Management Division and the Customs Legal Management Division of the Sectional Directorate. of Cúcuta Customs, with which the seizure of the 22 vehicles was ordered. The decision also ordered DIAN “to deliver the vehicles in the same conditions in which they were seized, however, if this is not possible due to the passage of time (inexorable deterioration), the payment of the value in which they were they were assessed at the time of their seizure ”.
In the latter case, says the ruling, the sum must be updated. “There will be no place to collect on storage (parking) and maintenance that the entity has incurred from its confiscation until the date on which this ruling is complied with,” concluded the Court.
