(AFP) – Jun 29, 2009

OTTAWA (AFP) — The Royal Canadian Mint, which produces coins for several nations, may have been the victim of a 15.3-million-dollar (13.2-million US) gold heist, an audit concluded Monday.

The mint had called in external auditors last month to investigate a discrepancy between the mint's 2008 financial accounting of its precious metal holdings and its actual stockpile.

Auditors at Deloitte and Touche concluded in report that approximately 17,500 troy ounces of gold, or about 0.32 percent of the mint's fiscal 2008 throughput, is indeed missing.

The unaccounted for difference in gold "does not appear to relate to an accounting error" in the reconciliation process, physical stock count or recordkeeping of transactions during the year, they said.

This leaves few unexplored options to explain the missing gold.

On June 9, the Canadian government asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to probe a possible heist, after mint officials signaled that the audit was not likely to reconcile the discrepancy.

Opposition MPs took this as a sign that criminal activity may have been involved.

"You don't call in the federal police if you've got an accounting problem," said New Democrat MP Thomas Mulcair.

However, the mint said in a statement: "It is not clear at this stage whether any physical gold is missing from our inventory.

"All individual customer holdings and metal deposits entrusted with the Royal Canadian Mind are secure and have been fully accounted for," it added.

Auditors recommended that the mint review its security and its calculations of precious metal losses in the refining process, as well as revisit prior period reconciliations.

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