Mint says missing gold may have been stolen
Last Updated: Monday, June 29, 2009 | 6:25 PM ET
CBC News
Christine Aquino, the director of communications for the Royal Canadian Mint, said it's possible that the millions of dollars worth of gold missing from the mint could have been stolen. (Jeff Semple/CBC)The Royal Canadian Mint said Monday that $15.3 million worth of gold missing from its vaults could have been stolen.
The gold was reported missing last fall, but officials at the mint said they had hoped they would find that an accounting error was responsible.
A review conducted by auditors Deloitte and Touche, however, recently concluded that the gold wasn't simply forgotten during inventory.
"The unaccounted for difference in gold does not appear to relate to an accounting error in the reconciliation process, an accounting error in the physical stock count schedules or an accounting error in the record keeping of transactions during the year," the company concluded in a report released Monday.
Christine Aquino, director of communications with the mint, said that many possible scenarios are being considered.
"We're not going to speculate on the cause just yet," said Aquino.
"We're not giving up on this. We're going to pursue this rather vigorously."
Aquino said the mint asked the RCMP to look into the matter two weeks ago.
She said in the meantime, the mint is prepared to follow three of Deloitte and Touche's recommendations concerning its accounting procedures and building security.
"They've also asked that we go through our security measures for review," said Aquino.
"But it's just one of the avenues we're pursuing. We have one of the most secure facilities in Canada, if not the world."
