anonymousNetUser wrote...

I work in Compliance for a manufacturing company in a HIGHLY regulated
industry and I've inherited this problem. I now have to explain how it
happened to a (non-technical) regulator or the company faces potentially
huge fines. The regulator isn't buying just "the CD was corrupted when
it was created."

The damage was done.
Could an EXPLAINATION excuse your company from her fault?
I don't think so.

Your company has hired someone incompetent, someone skipping
the CD verification (by windiff or other means) with the source
right after burning a CD.

The only explanation you can give is to admit the fault where
your company does not hold a process in place, to enforce source
codes verification right after archiving them to CD's.