$20,000,000 in gold disappears in Ottawa

The Mint management published a report Monday. They still don't know what happened.

The RCMP says they are sure no gold has been stolen. Not by workers or by crooks.

The Banks Group investigators say that after thorough search they are sure there was no “unauthorized removal” of gold.And it isn't hidden anywhere inside the building.

Microsoft said it wasn’t a computer glitch either.

It`s gone! So where did it go?

Deloitte and Touche accountants discovered a sloppy inventory in October 2008 had mis-estimated gold stock by 6,650 ounces.

Then it was discovered that gold refining machines aren’t always properly cleaned after they refine the gold. There goes another 1,500 ounces, more or less.

The cleaning ladies must have been happy.

And it seems the Mint paid way too much for a lot of old gold jewellery it melted down.

And it sold $3 million gold by error as slag to Americans at below market value.

The triple investigation ended up costing Canadians $1.4 million dollars which is about what 44 bars of gold are worth these days.

One might have thought the Harper government, which always brags about how it is a wise money mangager, might have fired the whole lot of them at the Mint.

Not so! The board of directors at the Mint began congratulating each other on a well done investigation.

Board president James B. Love, said he “commends management for leading a detailed and conclusive examination.”

That’s like commending an examination of the barn door after the horses have left.

The Mint made $53 million profit last year. So what’s losing $20 million more or less when you’re making money like that?

So what does Rob Merrifield, the minister responsible for monkey-shines do? He cancels their Christmas bonus. Now that should punish them. They won't be losing any more $20 million with a punishment like that.