President Patrick Hickey (L) and International Olympic Committee President (IOC) Thomas Bach (C) arrive for a ceremony in Frankfurt, Germany, May 20, 2016.
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Olympic official Patrick Hickey was arrested as part of a probe into Ireland’s allotted tickets being scalped at the Rio Games.
An International Olympics Committee executive has been arrested and six more have been accused of illegally selling tickets, per reports from O Estado de Sao Paulo and USA Today.
The Olympic Council of Ireland said Hickey chose to “step aside temporarily” as an IOC member and from all his other Olympic positions “until this matter is fully resolved”. He has served on the policy-making executive board since 2012.
Ticket touting is illegal in Brazil and police and prosecutors have stepped up their vigilance of the practice since the country has hosted the globe’s two biggest sporting events, the 2014 World Cup and now the Olympics.
Police said they were also looking for seven other suspects, including a British man and several Irish citizens. There are unconfirmed reports that the 71-year-old was taken to hospital after feeling sick at the time he got arrested.
Hours after the arrest, Ireland’s Olympic Council said Hickey has “temporarily” chose to remove himself from all Olympic-related duties until the issue is settled.
Police have not yet asked IOC for information, according to the spokesman, who confirmed that the Irish Olympic committee had allegedly sold 1,000 tickets illegally.
Kevin James Mallon, a director of THG Sports, was arrested in Rio on August 5 in possession of nearly 1,000 premier tickets for Games events.
“He’s in hospital”, Adams said.
“Let’s wait to see what charges are even made”, Adams said. In addition to his role leading Ireland’s Olympic Committee, he’s the president of the European Olympic Committees group and the vice president of the Association of National Olympic Committees.
Police are holding a media conference on 1:30pm, but it is being claimed the 800 tickets could have fetched £6,000 each.
He acknowledged his son’s past involvement with THG Sports and the outfit not acting as the authorized ticket reseller for the Olympic Council of Ireland for the games in Brazil.
An Irish executive was arrested last week in the same investigation.
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Mrs Hickey told them her husband had left Rio de Janeiro for Ireland at the weekend, they said. The tickets are believed to have been allocated to OCI and were alleged to have been put up for sale at high fees as part of a hospitality package. “We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness”, the council said at the time.
