Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson yesterday shot back at criticism from two prominent opposition members who accused the government of interfering in the Baha Mar debacle and ineffectively crippling any chances of progress being made between the parties involved.

She told reporters outside Cabinet that those remarks were concerning and demonstrate a “lack of patriotism by the Free National Movement (FNM).”

She expressed particular concern at the comments made by FNM Senator and former Attorney General Carl Bethel.

“First of all, I was really shocked, to hear the form Attorney General Senator Carl Bethel make such serious allegations about our Bahamas Supreme Court ‘putting a gun to investors’ head,’” she said.

“You can speak about your disagreement with the court and that’s what the appeal courts are for. I believe it is very unseemly. It is outrageous. It is very serious for especially someone who held the office of the attorney general to be saying those kinds of things.”

Shortly after Supreme Court Justice Ian Winder ruled to allow the appointment of provisional liquidators to oversee the stalled $3.5 billion Cable Beach project, Senator Bethel, a former attorney general, called the decision “foolhardy.”

Mr. Bethel also said the ruling, made last Friday “figuratively places a loaded gun to the head of (Sarkis Izmirlian)” and will create protracted litigation.

Justice Winder approved liquidators from KRys Global and AlixPartners Services.

Along with Carl Bethel’s criticism of the government’s handling of the Baha Mar, is MP Loretta Butler-Tuner, who said on Monday that the biggest problem of the parties reaching a resolution is the government.

“From the very inception, the PLP made an absolute mess at Baha Mar and continues to do so,” she said. “There were always questions about the scale and scope of the project. Further, it was the Ingraham administration which saved Baha Mar from the PLP’s gross incompetence and inability to move the project forward.”

Nonetheless, Mrs. Maynard-Gibson maintained that the appointment of provisional liquidators was still the best way to bring the parties involved to the table in peaceful manner to discuss the best means of opening the resort in the near future.

“I assure you that anyone who is saying that this government is not working in the interest of the Bahamian people needs to put his glasses on or they are deliberately trying to mischaracterize what the government is doing,” she said.
The parties are due back in court on November 2.