The majority of the attendees at a luncheon held in honour of Deputy Premier Ewart Brown described by Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons as "a shocking example of pay-to-play" were close, personal friends of Dr. Brown and/or his then-fiancee, Wanda Henton.

Government's pension fund consultant, Tina Byles Poitevien of Philadelphia-based Fiduciary Investment Services (FIS), arranged the 2002 luncheon in Washington D.C. Guests, who were allegedly both current and potential Bermuda pension funds money managers and stockbrokers, were reportedly asked to make out cheques for $2,500 to "Dr. Ewart Brown (PLP)". has also learned that Ms Poitevien's firm was paid $240,000-$290,000 for their services regarding the Bermuda pension funds last year ? not $500,000 as reported by the Mid-Ocean News last week.

The money raised at the Washington luncheon went towards Dr. Brown's personal election campaign for the 2003 General Election. Dr. Brown, who has met with lawyers over the story in last week's Mid-Ocean News quoting Dr. Gibbons on the matter, declined to comment earlier this week. Ms Poitevien is travelling this week and said she could not speak directly with

Yesterday, however, she answered several questions via e-mail through an FIS spokeswoman.

Saying Ms Poitevien "strongly disagrees" with the allegation that the luncheon was an example of pay-to-play, the spokeswoman said: "The referenced luncheon in Washington D.C. provided an opportunity for Dr. Brown to talk about his vision for Bermuda and for the attendees to lend support to Dr. Brown's political efforts as the then-Minister of Transportation.

"It stretches belief that the luncheon could be construed as part of a pay-to-play scheme because Dr. Brown had no authority with respect to the Bermuda Public Pension Funds.

"Any suggestion to the contrary, including those made in and the Mid-Ocean News, are entirely erroneous."

When asked to clarify why the US companies would care who sits in Bermuda's House of Assembly enough to offer financial support to the Bermudian Transport Minister, the spokeswoman added: "The majority of the attendees at the luncheon were long-standing, close personal friends of Dr. Brown and/or his then-fiancee, now his wife.

"The attendees at the luncheon were motivated to support Dr. Brown as a result of their individual, personal relationships with him and/or his wife, not their employment relationships with any US companies."

Mid-Ocean News said last week the attendees may not have known or cared about the amount of influence Dr. Brown had over the pension funds, but may have been happy paying to be in "the circle of influence" ? the pay-to-play concept ? and remembered by Ms Poitevien when it came time to make her recommendations.

An unnamed source quoted in a separate article in Mid-Ocean News said Ms Poitevien's fee as the Government pension fund consultant was $500,000, nearly twice what she reportedly receives as the pension fund consultant to the city of Philadelphia ? a pension fund with assets of $4 billion, according to the source, in comparison to Bermuda's $1 billion.

Though both FIS and the Accountant General's office have declined on previous occasions to specify the firm's fee to , yesterday the FIS spokesperson said: "The reported fee of $500,000 is incorrect and exceeds our actual fees by several hundred thousand dollars".

Yesterday, Assistant Financial Secretary Anthony Manders provided some more specifics. "The fee paid to FIS is an 'all-in' asset-based fee, and is capped at $350,000," he said. "The fee is 'all-in' because it is inclusive of all consulting related costs, and related travel and lodging costs. The asset-based fee ties FIS' compensation to the performance of the fund and therefore directly aligns the interests of FIS with the PFIC.

"I don't think it is appropriate to disclose the annual percentage fee charged but can confirm that for 2004 the Bermuda Government Pension Funds paid FIS between $240,000 to $290,000."

The Mid-Ocean News source asserted that Dr. Brown's friendship with Thaddeus Fletcher, who has held senior positions with two of the Bermuda pension funds managers, led to the hiring of Ms Poitevien and her firm by the Bermuda Government. "The referenced relationship did not have any effect on FIS being retained by the Bermuda Government," the FIS spokeswoman replied. "As the then-Minister of Transportation, Dr. Brown had no jurisdiction or authority with respect to the investment of Bermuda's public funds."

Both the Ministry of Finance and FIS recapped information previously printed in this newspaper regarding the hiring of FIS, saying requests for proposals were sent to six different firms. On the basis of their proposal FIS was invited to present to the Public Funds Investment Committee, then chaired by Richard Butterfield. Following that presentation FIS was, according to the Ministry and to the firm itself, unanimously chosen as the new consultant.

Government's previous consultant, the WM Company, provided investment manager performance information only, not full investment consulting services, the Ministry said.

Ms Poitevien has "exercised her constitutional right" as a US citizen to sponsor political fundraisers on two occasions in her 15-year career, the FIS spokeswoman said.

" and the Mid-Ocean News have printed stories that lack factual basis and make defamatory allegations about FIS," she added.

"Accordingly, our firm is very concerned about the integrity of the reporting relating to its business. We deeply regret that the referenced negligent reporting has served to divert attention away from the clear investment success of both the Bermuda Public Funds. It is regrettable that the overall success of the investment strategy that has been recommended by FIS has been deemed less newsworthy and important to the Bermuda public citizenry than the misconstrued events that have been reported with prominence."