CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – The St. Lucia government Monday denied regional media reports that Police Commissioner Vernon Francois had been sent on leave in the wake of a decision by the United States to bar him from attending a conference in that country. “The attention of the government of St. Lucia has been drawn to a story on the online news site, Caribbean News Now allegedly written by a ‘Caribbean News Now Contributor’. “The story alleges, among other things, that the Commissioner of Police Vernon Francois “has been requested to take accumulated vacation leave totalling some 400 days.”