Meter Inspector and Wife Arrested in €1 Million Meter Embezzlement Case
One meter attendant and his spouse have been arrested on allegations of misappropriating over €1m out of the coin-operated meters of a small town in Germany.
The unnamed city worker is thought to have removed coins from street meters in the town on numerous occasions and placed them in financial accounts that his wife had access to, authorities said in a release.
A financial crime report by a bank notified authorities to the suspected theft. The attendant has been charged with 720 counts of embezzlement, while his wife is charged with multiple counts of aiding and abetting theft.
Kempten Mayor the mayor expressed he was stunned and disappointed by the claims.
In the fall, the local legal authorities were informed that money was frequently being placed into multiple accounts, as reported by sources.
Officers then searched work locations in the early hours of November 24, the very day that a man in his forties and a woman in her late thirties were arrested.
They are now being detained in different jails.
It is uncertain how much time it might have required the pair to accumulate the sum.
In response to the accusations, Kiechle declared the formation of a committee to examine previous procedures, identify potential weaknesses, and reliably correct them for the coming years.
He added that the names of the couple could not currently be disclosed due to the ongoing investigation and privacy concerns.
In a written statement, Kiechle said: "I naturally back the legal authorities and the police in their thorough inquiry of the allegations."
"Until the proceedings are resolved, the innocent until proven guilty applies," he continued.
Kempten is among the oldest settlements in Germany. Located in the country's south, it sits under the slopes of the Allgäu and has around seventy thousand inhabitants.
