A third of workers in Italy town hall probed for absenteeism

ROME (Reuters) - More than a third of all town hall workers in the Italian Riviera resort of San Remo have been placed under investigation on suspicion of rampant absenteeism, police said on Thursday.

Using secret surveillance cameras, police have been spying on town hall staff since 2013 and uncovered what they believe was widespread cheating of the time management system.

The wives of two workers were caught using their husbands' staff cards to clock on for them when they were absent, while another worker was discovered "systematically" going canoeing while he was meant to be in the office.

In all, 196 employees out of a total 528 were placed under investigation, with 35 workers put under house arrest.

"Finance police have uncovered an atrocious system. How is it possible that within the (town hall) office, people did not realise how bad the situation was?" prosecutor Maria Paola Marrali told reporters.

The investigation was code-named Operation Stakhanov -- an ironic nod to the celebrated Soviet miner Alexei Stakhanov, made famous in the 1930s for his record coal hauls.

Absenteeism has long plagued Italy's public service and weighs on its fragile economy. More than 80 percent of Rome's municipal police called in sick last New Year's Eve, while Italian media say that nearly 15 percent of the capital's public transport drivers fail to show up for work each day.

(Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Richard Balmforth)