Mint to freeze exec bonuses over missing gold

CTV.ca News Staff June 29:

The Conservative government has instructed the Royal Canadian Mint to withhold all executive bonuses, as a reaction to a report released on Monday which showed $15.3 million worth of missing gold at the Crown corporation cannot be attributed to an accounting error. "The mint's unexplained loss of precious metals is inexcusable," Transport Minister John Baird and minister of state for transport, Rob Merrifield, said in a joint written statement released Monday evening. They have instructed the mint to withhold bonuses "until the matter is resolved to our satisfaction." Moreover, the government will require the mint to report on inventory levels of precious metals every three months. This response came hours after Liberal critic for crown corporations Joe Volpe said the Conservative government waited too long to respond.

On June 9 -- 10 weeks after the government heard about the unaccounted for gold - the government requested the mint ask the RCMP for help investigating the matter. The mint complied; however, the RCMP has not confirmed whether it will help in the matter. "All along the mint has left open the possibility that gold has been stolen -- a startling admission that seems more likely given this report," said Volpe. "Instead of immediately chasing down all possible leads, the government may have given those responsible the equivalent of a head-start for their get-away." In early June, it was discovered that there was an unreconciled difference between the value of gold on the mint's books and the physical count of gold for the 2008 fiscal year. There was much speculation as to the cause of the unaccounted for gold, ranging from refining processing errors to accounting errors to theft. Spokesperson for the mint, Christine Aquino, said the corporation commissioned an external audit by Deloitte and Touche to look at whether the discrepancy was due to an accounting or transaction error."They've done quite an extensive review and have determined that it is not an accounting error," Aquino told CTV.ca in a phone interview.

The mint's chairman, James Love, has said he believes a criminal heist is unlikely given the elaborate security at the mint, where RCMP-trained personnel keep an eye on things. However, the audit report has recommended an "in-depth review of systems security and an assessment of potential inappropriate activity by both internal and/or external parties." The audit report released on Monday also suggests the mint further investigate its refining operations and conduct an accounting review of prior years. "They feel we may have missed something in our accounting records in previous years that would affect the 2008 year," said Aquino. "All avenues are open and we will vigorously pursue the audit recommendations and hopefully come to a conclusion in the near future," said Aquino. The corporation intends to file a claim with its insurers to offset the amount of any unreconciled difference.