The Royal Canadian Mint has received written confirmation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that its thorough investigation into the unreconciled difference of gold and silver inventories at the end of the 2008 Fiscal Year does "not support further effort in the continuance of a criminal investigation into this matter."
The RCMP letter is available for viewing here
A portion of the letter follows: "As a result of your letter received on June 9th, 2009, "A" Division Commercial Crime Section initiated an investigation regarding the unreconciled difference of gold and silver inventories. This difference was in respect of the October 2008 physical count of the previous metals holdings at your facility in Ottawa. Although you requested assistance, your internal efforts had not identified any potential criminal wrongdoing which could account for the unreconciled differences.
A thorough investigation wa conducted of all investigative leads which could have conceivably supported criminal wrongdoing. Investigators also kept abreast of internal efforts initiated by the Royal Canadian Mint (MINT) in order to identify any potential investigative leads and/or explanations for the unreconciled differences.
The RCMP would like to inform the Mint that our inquiries and investigation to date do not support further effort in continuance of a criminal investigation into this matter. A complete report will be provided to you in the near future.
We leave it up to your discretion as to whether you continue to preserve data, information and documents as was requested by our investigators subsequent to your letter requesting assistance.
We request your continued cooperation until such time that our report is complete and communicated to you.
I would like to thank you ounce again for the cooperation and assistance extended tot he RCMP investigators."
This conclusion is consistent with the outcome of reviews of physical security and computer systems at the Mint’s Ottawa facility by the Banks Group and Microsoft Services.
The Mint has reviewed physical security, technical processes and prior period accounting with the assistance of external third party experts. These reviews are complete and the Mint will make these reports public by mid-December 2009, once the audit of the Mint’s 2008 financial statements is completed by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.
About the Royal Canadian Mint
The Royal Canadian Mint is an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, recognized as one of the largest and most versatile mints in the world. With facilities in both Ottawa and Winnipeg, the Mint is a commercial Crown Corporation which produces and manages the distribution of circulation coins and provides advice to the Government of Canada on matters related to coinage.
The Mint also designs, produces and markets numismatic coins and gift products and also manufactures coins and blanks for countries around the world. The Mint operates full-service gold and silver refineries, offers storage services to Canadian and international customers and produces precious metal products for the investment community. For a complete overview of the Mint’s products and services, visit www.mint.ca.
