From time to time, as if it were a premeditated and recurring practice, the Mayor’s Office of Santa Cruz again executes unjustified withholdings in bank accounts, affecting citizens who do not have pending debts. This problem is repeated every year, especially when the Mayor’s Office is without funds.
Last year, as every year, in November I was a victim of eight undue retentions, all derived from administrative errors of the mayor’s own, which doubled tax codes without leaving them. This year the situation was even worse: one serve, I was executed 15 simultaneous retentions and, although I have demonstrated the mistakes, I still deal with the case.
The abuse mechanism is always the same:
1. The Mayor’s Office orders retention without verifying if the debt is real.
2. The Santa Cruz Mercantil Bank, forced by law, complies with the order received through the ASFI and proceeds with the blockade of funds.
3. The affected citizen must demonstrate that he owes nothing, paying lawyers and doing unfair procedures.
4. Although the error is demonstrated, the Mayor’s Office takes between 15 and 20 days to correct it, leaving the person without access to their own money.
This procedure is not only abusive, but it causes serious economic and personal damages. How is it possible for the City Hall to continue applying these blockages without prior control or verification, year after year? Who is responsible for the time and money that citizens must spend on defending these abuses?
It is not a mistake, it is a systematic abuse
The Santa Cruz Mercantil Bank is not responsible for this injustice, since it only complies with the order sent by the ASFI and issued by the Mayor’s Office. However, it is unacceptable that the mayor use this abusive mechanism without prior control or verification.
In the letter sent to me by the Santa Cruz Mercantile Bank at the end of January, they informed me that the retention of my funds was ordered by the General Directorate of Tax Administration of the Mayor’s Office, through the ASFI. Although I have shown that I owe nothing, I still cannot access my own money.
I demand immediate responses and solutions
This is not just a personal complaint. It is a call to all citizens who have been victims of this abuse. It is time for the ASFI, the Ombudsman and the media to investigate and stop this practice.
We cannot continue allowing incompetent officials to retain citizens’ money arbitrarily, causing them economic damage and forcing them to pay lawyers to demonstrate the obvious: that they owe nothing.
I demand that the Mayor’s Office of Santa Cruz ceases to use this retention mechanism as an economic pressure tool that establishes a previous verification system before executing any measure of this type.
Enough of abuse. Enough of abuses. Enough of incompetence.
