Following what he calls a “disrespectful” statement from Baha Mar’s CEO Sarkis Izmirlian, Prime Minister Perry Christie said he has “grave concern” for the state of Izmirlian’s mind.

On Monday, Baha Mar released a statement expressing that it is “disgraceful” that the salaries of Baha Mar employees were not paid by the government.

According to the prime minister, Izmirlian called him on Sunday to provide assurances and express his confidence in him, but a day later he issued a statement “saying the exact opposite and in tones resonating with gross disrespect for the elected authority of this land.”

“Indeed I am at loss to recall any previous instance of a foreign investor who took it upon himself to publicly excoriate the government of the day in such a shrill and belligerent manner,” Christie said.

He noted that Izmirlian should “cease and desist from trying to fool his own workers and the general public.”

“He must stop playing fast and loose with the facts to serve his own ends. He ought to know full well that the delay in effecting payment to the workers had absolutely nothing to do with any stalling or obstructive action on the government’s part,” Christie said.

The prime minister explained that the delay in the payment of the employees’ salaries was the result of normal informational requirements of the government’s bankers and necessary account information-exchanges between Baha Mar and the treasury.

Christie reminded Izmirlian that Baha Mar employees and the country at large are in this present predicament because of his decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a foreign country.

“Be that as it may,” the prime minister said, “this is no time for Mr. Izmirlian to buckle under the pressure and lose his balance. He needs to keep his nerves steady, stop talking nonsense, and join with the government and all other interested parties in reaching a speedy and definitive resolution of the current crisis. That is where my focus is and that is where Mr. Izmirlian’s focus should be as well.”