PAPHOS police yesterday arrested a municipality worker and his female accomplice for stealing coins from parking meters in Paphos.
According to police spokesman Nicos Tsappis, the 47-year-old Cypriot employee and his 25-year-old Romanian accomplice were placed on a four day remand order by the district court yesterday. They were arrested on Thursday afternoon.
Tsappis said: “Paphos municipality performed checks of the parking meters in the town and discovered that the amount of money which should be in the meters didn’t tally up, they found that there was some missing.”
While parking fees had increased, the money coming in was less, arousing suspicions.
The arrests were made after a complaint was lodged with the police by an internal auditor at the municipality who claims that following an audit performed at various parking meters of the city, there was a shortfall.
The police spokesman added that the 25-year-old woman, who worked at a betting shop owned by the municipality worker, had also aroused suspicions as she often deposited large amounts of money in coins at the bank.
According to the state broadcaster the pair were caught when authorities placed marked coins into the machines, which were then found in the possession of the Romanian woman.
Tsappis said: “The police are fully investigating this case and information suggests that this practice has been going on for more than one month.” State broadcaster said that more than €140,000 was deposited by the woman over the last two years.
A press release issued by Nicosia police headquarters confirmed that the pair was under investigation concerning a case of conspiracy to commit felony and theft by an employee.
Paphos Mayor Savvas Vergas expressed his sadness over what happened but said he would wait for official information from police before deciding on the employee’s future at the municipality.