ST Lucia’s Attorney-General Phillip La Corbiniere is under fire in the tiny eastern Caribbean island for suggesting that Sandals Resorts laying off of workers at one of its three hotels there, was timed to hurt the ruling party ahead of elections next month.

The main St Lucia Mirror newspaper ran the story Friday under a front page lead headline “A G Stands Alone”, reporting on La Corbiniere’s statement which was immediately denied by Prime Minister, Kenny Anthony who sought to distance himself from the aspersions cast by his chief lawyer.

The day before, The Voice newspaper castigated the Attorney-General for what it headlined “Conspiracy Theory” in its editorial.

Both newspapers also carried letters to the editor from readers lashing La Corbiniere for his unsubstantiated attack on Sandals and calling on him to apologise to Sandals chairman, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart.

“Not only are the statements made by the Attorney-General reckless, thoughtless and irresponsible but it reeks strongly of desperation,” The Voice editorial said.

“The point has been rehashed repeatedly that the dismissals, coming at this time may have been badly timed and deserving of criticism from all sides, even from the political spectrum. However, to make statements to the effect that the hotel and its owner intended to destabilise the country is taking the matter way out of the context of the present situation.

“…What proof has the Attorney-General that the hotel and its owner are planning some sort of conspiracy? What proof has the Attorney-General, other than the dismissals of employees, that the hotel and its owner intended to destabilise a country?” The newspaper asked.

The St Lucia Mirror said Sandals had laid off more than a hundred workers in recent weeks as part of a programme of outsourcing services to make its hotels more efficient and to raise its standard of service at the Sandals Regency Hotel, one of three which it operates on the island.

But the newspaper reported that while most of the dismissed employees had suggested the action was to prevent them from being unionised, La Corbiniere had told a television interviewer that the move was timed to hurt the ruling St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) in general elections to be held December and favour the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) of Sir John Compton.

“Attorney General Phillip La Corbiniere appears to be standing alone after his claim this week that the recent dismissal at Sandals regency hotel that sparked street protest were aimed at destabilising the country as it moves into general elections in less than three weeks time,” the paper said.

It quoted Rachael McLarty, director of corporate communications at Sandals Resorts as insisting that Sandals would stand by “our business operating decisions to maintain our enviably high standards in the delivery of a world class vacation experience to our guests”.

The newspaper added that it had been a torrid year for La Corbiniere “who failed to win the Castries Central by-election in March, despite the better organised machinery of the SLP”.

“The son of the former deputy prime minister of the defunct West Indies Federation, Carl La Corbiniere, the young attorney has been dogged by controversy ever since,” it said.

The Star newspaper asked in its headline story “Will the government openly distance itself from AG’s Sandals statements?”

In its editorial, The Voice also asked: “And since when does the dismissal of workers from one company, or by one employer, equate to a plan or an intention to destabilise?”

The newspaper warned La Corbiniere to be careful not to create bad blood in some sectors of the economy and cautioned him to consider what would happen “should Sandals decide to shutdown one or all of its hotels”.

“He, of all persons, should be mature enough to understand that multi-national corporations have their own agendas,” it said.

One letter writer in the Mirror urged La Corbiniere to “tell us why would Sandals want to destabilise a country in which it operates”.

“By Mr La Corbiniere’s own admission, both Sandals and St Lucia had benefited from the hotel chain’s presence in St Lucia. So I ask again, why would Sandals want to jeopardise its situation? It makes no sense,” the writer concluded.

“To accuse a company that has been a good corporate citizen in our country of playing politics with its own success is a lot of garbage, and the Attorney-General ought to apologise to Sandals for this bit of recklessness on his part,” the writer said, adding: “There is no evidence whatsoever that Sandals is trying to influence the outcome of the general elections. In fact, there is no evidence whatsoever of Sandals ever playing any political card since it has been operating in St Lucia.”

A second writer argued: “Sandals has been an important factor in the economic and social life of this country from day one. It is difficult to believe that they would embark on any course of action that would put them at odds with the country, unless such action was totally necessary.”