A parking inspector and his wife have been arrested on allegations of misappropriating more than €1m from the parking meters of a modest German town.
The unnamed city worker is believed to have taken coins out of parking meters in Kempten on multiple instances and deposited them in financial accounts that his wife had access to, local police said in a release.
A money laundering alert by a credit institution notified authorities to the alleged embezzlement. The parking inspector has been charged with 720 counts of embezzlement, while his wife is charged with multiple counts of assisting in the crime.
The town's Mayor the mayor expressed he was stunned and disappointed by the allegations.
In October, the Kempten public prosecutor's office were notified that money was frequently being placed into multiple bank accounts, according to sources.
Police then searched office premises in the early hours of November 24, the very day that a man in his forties and a 38-year-old woman were taken into custody.
They are now being detained in separate jails.
It is not clear how long it might have taken the pair to accrue the sum.
In reaction to the accusations, the mayor announced the appointment of a commission to review past work processes, identify potential flaws, and reliably correct them for the future.
He noted that the names of the couple could not currently be disclosed due to the active probe and confidentiality issues.
In a written statement, the mayor stated: "I certainly back the public prosecutor's office and the law enforcement in their thorough inquiry of the claims."
"Until the case are resolved, the presumption of innocence stands," he continued.
The town is one of the most historic settlements in the country. Situated in the country's south, it lies under the slopes of the Allgäu region and has around 70,000 residents.
