Gold missing, but security is tight…

Mint looks for gold, freezes worker bonuses

BY IAN MCLEOD, OTTAWA CITIZEN

JUNE 4, 2009

OTTAWA — The Royal Canadian Mint is withholding employee bonus pay as special auditors enter a fourth month hunting for unaccounted gold that insiders say could be worth as much as several million dollars.

The Ottawa Citizen reported Wednesday that external auditors are investigating an “unreconciled difference” between the 2008 financial accounting of the mint’s precious-metals holdings and the physical stockpile of gold, silver and palladium at its Ottawa headquarters. The mystery raises possibilities from sloppy bookkeeping to a gold heist.

Stealing gold or other metals would be a considerable feat, one that would have to evade state-of-the-art security technology.

Perhaps not?