Accused of racking up an exorbitant expense account, David Dingwall has resigned from his post as president of the Royal Canadian Mint. But he insists he never did anything wrong.

Following the release of documents revealing that he and his top aides racked up office expenses of more than $747,000 in 2004, Dingwall announced his resignation Wednesday morning.

But, he says, his leaving should not be misconstrued as an admission of wrongdoing.

"Every expenditure, every expense that was made by the CEO was done in the direction of the goals and objectives that we had set out," Dingwall said in an exclusive interview with CTV News.

Canadians shocked by the size of his tab, Dingwall continued, need to consider it in context.

"If you're travelling abroad ... you're going to have expenses," he said. "You know, you're not taking a canoe. You're not getting the train to Montreal here."

According to the documents obtained under the Access to Information Act by Conservative MP Brian Pallister and made public Wednesday, in 2004 Dingwall and his colleagues spent $130,000 in foreign and domestic travel, $14,000 in meals and $11,000 in hospitality.

The Mint also appears to have picked up a $1,400 tab for Dingwall's membership in an Ottawa-area golf club, $5,900 in operating expenses for a car he leased, and $1,500 in membership fees in the Nova Scotia barristers' society.

"He was not only charging for expenses like travel, he was also charging for things like chewing gum, water and newspapers, which obviously became a point of concern," reports CTV's Rosemary Thompson.

When asked why he would expense a pack of gum -- particularly in light of his $277,000 annual salary as CEO of the Mint -- Dingwall saw no reason to apologize.

"Look, I just throw the receipts on the desk, they take after them and they submit them accordingly," he said.

Dingwall added that he has asked the Mint's board of directors to strike an independent committee to review the appropriateness of all the expenses, and is confident he will be vindicated.

In the House of Commons daily question period, Prime Minister Paul Martin told MPs that he had accepted Dingwall's resignation, and made it clear he still supported the former Liberal cabinet minister.

But Opposition Leader Stephen Harper wanted to know why the resignation has only come now, "after evidence of this waste and abuse was exposed by the Opposition through Access to Information and reported by the media."

And NDP leader Jack Layton quipped that "Dingwall has redefined the whole concept of loose change, that's for sure."

Martin responded by noting that under Dingwall's tutelage, the Mint "has now been returned to profit."

Treasury Board president Reg Alcock added: "The reality is, every single expense that was incurred was within the policy of the Mint, was vetted by their senior financial officer and was approved."

But Layton noted that "every penny wasted by David Dingwall happened on this prime minister's watch."

"Even after Andre Ouellet resigned from Canada Post, no rules were changed whatsoever. So I guess the deal is: don't get caught," he told the House.

Questions about lobbying efforts

But Dingwall is facing more than just attacks over his spending.

He has also been criticized for failing to register as a lobbyist for a Toronto pharmaceutical company, a role he played before joining the Mint.

The company reportedly agreed to pay Dingwall up to $350,000 for his help in securing grants under the Technology Partnerships Canada program. But program rules forbid companies from hiring lobbyists.

In his statement, Dingwall said he believes he complied with "all aspects of the Act governing the government relations business.''

Thompson says this isn't the first time Dingwall, a former cabinet minister who served under Jean Chretien, has come under fire since being turned him out of office in 1997.

"When he left politics, he was a lobbyist and there were some questions then. But this is the biggest story we've had recently about Mr. Dingwall and obviously the expense story must be related to it," she said.

Most of the controversies Dingwall has faced have centred on the years he spent as a private lobbyist before he was appointed to the Mint in 2003.

It was reported in July that a Cape Breton business development group paid Dingwall $20,000 in money it had obtained from the federal government's Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

Part of the money was apparently paid for Dingwall to lobby ACOA -- an agency he once oversaw as a cabinet minister -- for even more money on behalf of the business group.

Prepared with reports from CTV News Ottawa