Scandal involving an American citizen, in Constanta South Customs

Uncertain situation in Constanţa South Agigea Customs. A man having double Romanian and American citizenry, is claiming that the custom officers unjustly retained his car brought from the United States of America. The man is suspecting that he is confronted with a set up meant to swindle him, as the customs duty and the vehicle storing taxes are huge. 

In their turn, the representatives of Constanţa South Agigea Customs Office have stated that the only misunderstanding consists of the fact that this person cannot have his car unless he pays the customs duty, which is, according to the manager of the Office, more than 20,000 lei. Iusuf Dogan's nightmare began on 13^th of September 2008, once the container with his family's belongings, acquired in the United States, among which "two old cars, Honda 2001 and Mercedes Benz 2005", entered Constanţa South Agigea Harbour. "From my perspective, the facts are as follows", the American citizen of Romanian origin is telling: "my container sent from New York arrived in Agigea Port on 13^th of September 2008 and was kept in the port until 28^th of October 2008, when he was taken to the warehouse of Agigea Customs". Next, the man is saying, he was given the Honda and his domestic electronics. The situation of the Mercedes is very interesting though, as Iusuf Dogan is saying that he was told that the customs were waiting for an answer from The Euroregional Centre for the Prevention and Fight against Cross-Border Criminality, which would have to establish if the car was registered as stolen from another country. Months passed by and the customs officers were saying that the answer had not been given yet; so, the American citizen took the matter into his own hands and decided to contact himself the representatives of the institution previously mentioned.

3,000 dollars for customs

They communicated him that the car was not under the suspicion of being stolen. On the other hand, the American citizen is stating that the representatives of the customs office used this as a pretext to time out the procedure, with the purpose of obtaining money. "So the pretext of waiting for that answer was used only to swindle money from me and to prove that they may do what they wish, against any laws or common sense, in the spirit of the mightiness of the chiefs of Agigea Customs Office", Iusuf Dogan declared. And more, according to his calculation, from September 2008 until October 2008 he paid about 3,000 dollars for the container and the space used by it in the harbour. Starting from October 28, the car was moved into another place, and Iusuf Dogan is paying 10 dollars per day for storing. He is suspecting that the customs officers in Agigea are resorting to different pretexts to refuse giving him his car, just to make him go on paying the storing taxes. Iusuf Dogan mentioned that he intended to sue the representatives of Agigea customs office. On the opposite side, Iulian Teşeleanu, the manager of Constanţa South Agigea Customs Office, stated that the problems claimed by Dogan point to the only fact that he cannot have his car without paying the customs duty. The manager of Agigea Customs Office said that these taxes are more than 200 million old lei, in the context in which documents are not attesting the fact that the vehicle had been in the possession of Iusuf Dogan six months before trying to bring it to Romania. Teşeleanu stated that Dogan had two possibilities: paying the customs duty or sending the car back to the United States. "We have information from the vehicle registration agency in USA and, according to the documents, the car was not his six months before taking it to our country", the manager of the Customs Office stated. In reply, Iusuf Dogan is contradicting Teşeleanu's sayings and he is stating that he had owned the Mercedes taken from the car dealer in the United States since June 2007, and in June 2008 the selling contract was signed.