Mounties to probe Canada’s missing gold
June 10, 2009
OTTAWA (AFP) — The Canadian government is investigating the disappearance of an amount of gold and precious metals from the Royal Canadian Mint and has asked the federal police to probe a possible heist.
Minister of State for Transport Rob Merrifield said Tuesday he called in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to conduct a “full investigation.”
External auditors had been ordered to investigate a discrepancy between the mint’s 2008 financial accounting of its precious metal holdings and its actual stockpile. Many had expected the audit would point to sloppy bookkeeping.
The investigation was ordered after mint officials said the audit would not be able to reconcile the discrepancy.
“As soon as they instructed me this morning that it looked like the audit wasn’t going to tell us everything we need to know and be able to rectify the numbers, I thought it was important to bring the RCMP in,” Merrifield said
