Police in Hamburg have raided a local authority and an events company over allegations that free Rolling Stones tickets worth €10,000 were given to local officials.
According to the BBC a hundred officials were presented with tickets after the district office approved the September concert.
German officials are banned from accepting gifts and the exceptional number of officials at the concert has attracted critcism, according to Der Spiegel.
Over 80,000 people attended the concert in September, with some buyers reportedly paying €800 for a ticket on the black market.
Investigators examined computers at a local authority and also raided the office of events firm FKP Scorpio following an anonymous tip-off, according to Die Welt.
Hamburg North district office head Harald Rösler said the tickets were given to local politicians and office employees plus their partners, as reported by Pollstar.
Rösler said that staff had worked unpaid overtime to organise the concert, the biggest ever to have taken place in the city.
FKP Scorpio said it was "unrealistic" to assume that free concert tickets could influence the authorisation process.
A company spokesperson praised the "good and very complex cooperation" with the district office and added that FKP Scorpio didn't mind if the recipients of the tickets had understood them to be a thank-you gesture, Der Spiegel reported.
The tickets were given to local politicians and office employees plus their partners, Pollstar reported.
He said staff had worked unpaid overtime, to organise the concert, which he said was the biggest ever to have taken place in the city.
FKP Scorpio said it was "unrealistic" to assume that free concert tickets could influence the authorisation process.
A company spokesperson praised the "good and very complex cooperation" with the district office and added that FKP Scorpio didn't mind if the recipients of the tickets had understood them to be a thank-you gesture, Der Spiegel reported.
