Premier Brian Gallant's office is refusing to provide details on two Liberal political staffers accepting free concert tickets from the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.

Records released by ALC show Gallant's then press secretary, Guy Gallant, and his then chief of staff, Greg Byrne, received free tickets to the July 2015 Cavendish Beach Music Festival.

But a spokesperson wouldn't say how many tickets the two Liberal political staffers received.

"Atlantic Lottery has been open and transparent about which officials received tickets, and we support ALC's decision to make these details publicly available," press secretary Julie Robichaud said in an emailed statement.

Premier Brian Gallant's office won't say how many free concert tickets Atlantic Lottery provided to staff, including then chief of staff Greg Byrne. ((CBC)) The corporation released the lists only after a joint audit by four provincial auditors general questioned ALC's assertion that the ticket giveaways help "build relationships" with "shareholders," a reference to the four Atlantic provincial governments.

Audit criticizes ticket gifts

The audit said "management have not supported this by facts or analysis" and concluded ALC "should not buy event and concert tickets to give to government and elected officials in an effort to simply improve shareholder relations."

The statement from Gallant's office noted that "ALC has announced they will suspend this practice unless there is a clear business rationale. We support this action."

But the statement did not respond to questions from CBC News about how many tickets the two staffers received or their dollar value.

The cheapest ticket listed online for the 2015 festival is $169.50 for a three-day pass.

Atlantic Lottery Corporation was audited by the four auditors general from the Atlantic Provinces. (CBC) Atlantic Lottery couldn't say Friday if that was the price of the tickets given to Byrne and Gallant.

New Brunswick's conflict of interest law says deputy ministers and executive staff members are not allowed to "accept a fee, gift, gratuity or other benefit which could reasonably be considered to influence [decisions] in any manner."

The 2016 list shows no tickets to New Brunswick government officials.

Guy Gallant, who is no relation to Brian Gallant, is also listed as attending the 2014 festival in Cavendish with ALC tickets.

He was working for then Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz at the time.

Higgs defends practice

On Thursday, PC leader Blaine Higgs, who also attended the 2014 festival with free tickets from ALC, said attending such events with lottery executives was a good way to do business.

"Building these relationships, you secure a much better deal because you get to know them, and you get to talk about things in a setting that is not just across the boardroom table," he said.

Higgs said that's as long as accepting the tickets doesn't violate any rules.

Elected officials in New Brunswick are required to report any gifts they receive worth more than $250 to the conflict of interest commissioner.