Police called in; Speaker threatens to search everyone as MP’s laptop goes missing

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir had cause on Wednesday to call in the police to conduct an investigation and went as far as threatening to search all persons, including Members of Parliament (MPs), as an Apple laptop belonging to opposition MP, Cathy Hughes has gone missing.

Hughes reported that when the sitting of the National Assembly was suspended just after 12:00h, she packed up her laptop and files, placed then into her briefcase and left for lunch.

She said upon returning when she opened the briefcase to take out her belongings, only her files were there and not her laptop. The matter was immediately brought up on the floor by Speaker Nadir who said he found it “totally unacceptable.”

“This is most concerning,” he said before threatening to “close down and search everyone.”

The Speaker announced that the two surveillance cameras in the dome of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), where the sitting is being held, is not operable.

“We got to get that fixed immediately,” he added before pointing out that the police have been called in to conduct an investigation.

It should be noted that there is a heavy police presence of senior and junior ranks, at the ACCC along with the personal security of several government ministers.

“I normally leave everything on my desk and now I’m worried… we will spare no effort trying to locate the missing items. This wasn’t accidental, someone had to open it, it is not just picking it up,” he added.