Meter Inspector and Spouse Apprehended in €1 Million Meter Embezzlement Case
One parking inspector and his wife have been arrested on suspicion of misappropriating over €1m out of the coin-operated meters of a modest town in Germany.
The unnamed municipal employee is thought to have removed cash out of street meters in the town on multiple instances and placed them in financial accounts that his spouse had control over, authorities stated in a release.
A money laundering report by a credit institution alerted investigators to the alleged embezzlement. The attendant has been accused with 720 counts of theft, while his spouse is charged with multiple counts of aiding and abetting theft.
The town's Mayor the mayor expressed he was stunned and dismayed by the claims.
In October, the Kempten public prosecutor's office were notified that cash was repeatedly being placed into several accounts, according to reports.
Officers then raided office premises in the morning of November 24, the same day that a 40-year-old man and a woman in her late thirties were taken into custody.
They are now being detained in separate detention facilities.
It is not clear how much time it might have taken the pair to accumulate the amount.
In response to the allegations, the mayor declared the formation of a committee to examine previous procedures, identify potential flaws, and reliably correct them for the coming years.
He noted that the names of the individuals could not at this time be disclosed due to the active investigation and privacy concerns.
In a written statement, the mayor stated: "I certainly back the legal authorities and the law enforcement in their thorough inquiry of the allegations."
"Until the case are concluded, the presumption of innocence applies," he continued.
Kempten is among the oldest towns in Germany. Situated in the country's south, it sits under the slopes of the Allgäu and has approximately 70,000 inhabitants.
