A parking inspector and his spouse have been arrested on suspicion of embezzling more than €1m out of the coin-operated meters of a small town in Germany.
The unnamed municipal employee is believed to have taken coins out of parking meters in the town on numerous occasions and placed them in financial accounts that his wife had control over, authorities stated in a statement.
A financial crime report by a credit institution notified investigators to the suspected embezzlement. The attendant has been accused with 720 counts of theft, while his wife is charged with 720 counts of assisting in theft.
Kempten Mayor the mayor expressed he was stunned and disappointed by the claims.
In October, the Kempten public prosecutor's office were notified that money was frequently being placed into multiple bank accounts, as reported by reports.
Police then searched office premises in the early hours of November 24, the very day that a 40-year-old man and a woman in her late thirties were arrested.
They are now being detained in different detention facilities.
It is not clear how long it might have taken the couple to accrue the sum.
In response to the allegations, the mayor declared the appointment of a commission to examine past procedures, uncover possible weaknesses, and reliably remedy them for the coming years.
He noted that the names of the couple could not currently be disclosed due to the ongoing investigation and privacy concerns.
In a official comment, the mayor said: "I certainly back the legal authorities and the law enforcement in their thorough inquiry of the claims."
"Until the case are concluded, the innocent until proven guilty applies," he added.
The town is one of the oldest settlements in Germany. Situated in the country's south, it sits under the hills of the Allgäu and has around 70,000 inhabitants.
