Parking Inspector and Wife Arrested in €1m Meter Embezzlement Investigation

One meter attendant and his wife have been arrested on allegations of embezzling over €1m from the coin-operated meters of a small town in Germany.

The unnamed municipal employee is thought to have removed coins out of street meters in Kempten on multiple occasions and placed them in financial accounts that his spouse had access to, local police said in a release.

A money laundering report by a credit institution notified authorities to the suspected embezzlement. The parking inspector has been charged with numerous charges of theft, while his wife faces multiple counts of assisting in theft.

Kempten Head Thomas Kiechle expressed he was shocked and disappointed by the allegations.

In the fall, the local public prosecutor's office were notified that money was frequently being placed into multiple bank accounts, as reported by sources.

Police then searched office premises in the early hours of November 24, the same day that a man in his forties and a 38-year-old woman were taken into custody.

They are now being detained in separate detention facilities.

It is not clear how long it might have taken the pair to accrue the sum.

In reaction to the allegations, Kiechle announced the appointment of a commission to review previous procedures, identify possible weaknesses, and reliably remedy them for the coming years.

He noted that the identities of the individuals could not currently be released due to the active investigation and privacy concerns.

In a official comment, Kiechle stated: "I naturally back the public prosecutor's office and the law enforcement in their thorough investigation of the claims."

"Until the proceedings are resolved, the presumption of innocence applies," he continued.

Kempten is among the most historic towns in the country. Located in the southern region, it sits under the slopes of the Allgäu region and has around seventy thousand inhabitants.