Parking Inspector and Spouse Arrested in €1 Million Meter Embezzlement Case

A parking inspector and his spouse have been arrested on allegations of misappropriating over €1m from the parking meters of a small town in Germany.

The unnamed city worker is thought to have removed coins out of street meters in the town on multiple occasions and deposited them in financial accounts that his spouse had access to, local police said in a release.

A financial crime report by a bank notified authorities to the suspected embezzlement. The attendant has been charged with 720 counts of embezzlement, while his wife faces multiple counts of assisting in the crime.

Kempten Mayor the mayor said he was stunned and disappointed by the allegations.

In the fall, the local legal authorities were notified that cash was frequently being placed into multiple accounts, according to reports.

Officers then searched office premises in the morning of 24 November, the very day that a man in his forties and a woman in her late thirties were arrested.

They are now being held in different detention facilities.

It is not clear how long it might have required the couple to accumulate the sum.

In reaction to the allegations, the mayor announced the appointment of a committee to examine previous work processes, identify possible weaknesses, and effectively correct them for the future.

He noted that the names of the couple could not at this time be disclosed due to the ongoing investigation and confidentiality issues.

In a written statement, the mayor said: "I naturally support the public prosecutor's office and the law enforcement in their thorough investigation of the claims."

"Until the case are concluded, the presumption of innocence applies," he continued.

Kempten is one of the oldest towns in the country. Located in the country's south, it sits under the hills of the Allgäu and has around 70,000 inhabitants.