Parking Inspector and Spouse Arrested in €1 Million Meter Embezzlement Case
One meter attendant and his wife have been detained on suspicion of misappropriating over €1m out of the coin-operated meters of a small town in Germany.
The unnamed municipal employee is thought to have taken coins out of parking meters in the town on multiple instances and placed them in financial accounts that his spouse had control over, local police said in a release.
A money laundering report by a bank notified authorities to the alleged theft. The parking inspector has been charged with 720 counts of embezzlement, while his spouse is charged with 720 counts of aiding and abetting the crime.
Kempten Head the mayor said he was stunned and dismayed by the claims.
In October, the local legal authorities were notified that cash was repeatedly being placed into several bank accounts, as reported by reports.
Police then searched office premises in the early hours of November 24, the same day that a 40-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were arrested.
They are now being held in separate detention facilities.
It is uncertain how much time it might have required the pair to accrue the sum.
In reaction to the accusations, Kiechle declared the appointment of a commission to examine previous procedures, identify possible flaws, and reliably correct them for the coming years.
He added that the names of the couple could not currently be released due to the ongoing probe and privacy concerns.
In a written statement, the mayor stated: "I certainly support the public prosecutor's office and the law enforcement in their thorough investigation of the allegations."
"Until the case are resolved, the innocent until proven guilty applies," he added.
The town is one of the oldest towns in the country. Situated in the country's south, it sits under the hills of the Allgäu and has approximately seventy thousand residents.
