Police investigators have been “stumped” in their probe of the theft of over 100 laptops from the Government One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme. The computers were discovered missing eight months ago triggering a widespread probe and questioning of the programme’s staffers.

Some staff members were sent on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. On Thursday morning, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon revealed that the government used its “lie detector” machine in a failed effort to track down the perpetrators. He said several staffers were given the polygraph tests and while some of their answers were not satisfactory, the polygraph machine failed to locate “the thief”.

Police investigators have been exhausting all possible leads and most of the employees who were sent on leave have since returned to their jobs. Sources at the OLPF project office have indicated that at least one employee who refused to take the test has since resigned and another has been asked to leave the job.

The laptops went missing from the project’s Georgetown Head Office and the theft was only discovered when reports surfaced that the laptops which are for free distribution were being sold in small communities for low sums of money.

The One Laptop Per Family project is the brainchild of former President Bharrat Jagdeo. Over 20,000 laptops have been distributed to low-income families so far. Another 27,000 laptops are to be distributed this year.

Related posts:

Audit report finds multiple accounting and other discrepancies at One Laptop Per Family project Last batch of One Laptop per Family computers to be given to teachers and schools Government to review One Laptop Per Family Project GEA fires more staffers over polygraph tests