In this June 11, 2015, file photo, Patrick Hickey, the head of the European Olympic Committee, speaks during a news conference on the eve of the opening of the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.
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Brazilian media claim that Hickey has since been hospitalised “after feeling sick the moment he got arrested”.
He said the allegations centered on 1,000 tickets belonging to the Irish national Olympic committee, of which Hickey is the president.
A statement from the Olympic Council of Ireland said: “In light of this morning’s developments and his ill health, Mr Hickey has taken the decision to step aside temporarily as President of the OCI and all other Olympic functions (IOC member in Ireland, EOC President, ANOC Vice President) until this matter is fully resolved”.
A former black belt judoka, Hickey has been head of the Irish Olympic Committee since 1989 and an IOC member since 2005.
The arrest follows earlier operations by police against what they say is an worldwide ticket scalping ring.
Brazilian media reported that Hickey was detained at his son’s room in the hotel and was taken to hospital after his arrest.
He has also been on the International Olympic Committee executive board since 2012.
RTE reports that Mr Hickey faces three potential charges: facilitating ticket touting, forming a cartel, and “ambush” marketing. THG has said there is no evidence to support the allegations made by police.
Irish citizen Kevin James Mallon, who’s an executive at THG – a company that until recently had been the official ticket reseller for the Irish Olympic Committee – is being held without bail in Brazil after he was arrested around the start of the games on August 5, over charges of re-selling tickets at steep markups.
An International Olympic Committee source told Reuters the organization was also still establishing the facts in the case.
Police have also issued arrest warrants for four other THG directors: David Gilmore, Marcus Evans, Maarten Van Os and Martin Studd. The THG president Kevin Mallon and several of his employees were arrested early in the Olympic Games.
After the first arrests last week, the Olympic Council of Ireland said it would investigate why some of its tickets were in the possession of the suspects. The OCI name was visible on tickets displayed by police, but the Irish said they had “no knowledge” of the two men arrested.
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The IOC official is reported to have rejected a request to include an independent person on the OCI’s probe into the ticketing scam.
