Tracy Panton says she had no authority over the infamous Brads Boledo contract

Leader of the Opposition Tracy Panton is responding after coming under repeated criticism from members of the Briceño administration over the controversial Brads Boledo contract. Panton says that although she served as a Minister of State during the former UDP administration, she had no authority or decision-making role in relation to the agreement.

The Brads Boledo arrangement has long been a target of criticism by the PUP, particularly over tax concessions granted to government lotteries under the former administration. 

Panton says she should not be held responsible for decisions made around the contract, maintaining that her ministerial position did not carry authority over the matter.

Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition: “Nobody unilaterally under the Barrow administration approved anything. I don’t know if people remember that I was a Minister of State. I was not a substantive minister but I say that to say the Minister of State has no authority to sign any legal agreements on behalf of the government of that nature. It comes from the Attorney General’s ministry and it comes from the substantive minister at the time. But I will go further. Under my administration of that process, those recommendations after the approval from Cabinet went to the Contractor General for review and for scrutiny to make sure that those contracts were being executed to the letter of the law. I have served this country diligently for 40 years and at no time, in any position I have served in this country, have I used my office or my authority for personal gain to enrich my friends and family, to enrich myself, to try to garner any benefits that does not serve the interests of this country and the interests of the people.”

In May 2022, Prime Minister John Briceño tabled the Lotteries Control Amendment Regulations, introducing a twelve-point-five percent tax on boledo, lottery and jackpot operations.  Those regulations reversed a 2011 statutory instrument under the former Barrow administration that exempted government lotteries from taxation, based on the principle that government could not tax itself. The Briceño administration has argued that the exemption resulted in Brads receiving tax benefits estimated in the tens of millions of dollars.