Brazilian police arrested on August 17, 2016 Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Patrick Hickey concerning an alleged involvement in illegally passing on tickets for the games to unofficial vendors, media reports said.
Advertisement
“The allegation that a portion of the OCI’s family and friends tickets were being made available by PRO10 for general sale is utterly untrue and completely without any foundation”, the company said.
Negotiations have taken place to keep the 71-year-old under house arrest, but, as these continue to stall, he was taken to Bangu Prison in the west of the city.
Mr Hickey will be replaced as president of the European Olympic Committees by his deputy Janez Kocijancic.
The investigation centres on the sale of more than 800 tickets to the Games, including more than 20 which police said were intended for use by Ireland’s Olympics officials.
Mr Hickey’s wife Sylviane is believed to still be in Rio.
He revealed details of the meeting he had with Mr Hickey in which he said he was “stone-walled”.
Brazilian police were also reported to have issued a warrant for Mr Evans’ arrest, along with three colleagues.
Last night, prison authorities confirmed Mr Hickey would be sharing a cell with one other person on his first night.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would co-operate with any police investigation.
Irish Sports Minister Shane Ross announced yesterday that a judge will be appointed next week to head the independent inquiry.
A statement released by THG Sports this morning read: “THG notes that, in the interests of the wider Irish public, there have been calls in Ireland for an independent inquiry into the Rio16 Olympic ticketing affair”.
International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said the allegations concerned 1,000 tickets out of a total of 6.5 million that were made available for the Rio games.
Irish parliamentarian Noel Rock told the BBC that, before his arrest, Mr Hickey had “stonewalled” when he was questioned about the tickets scandal.
The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) said on Friday it would commission an independent investigation into the accusations that led to the arrest of its longtime president.
Ross’s proposal was strongly rejected by Hickey but, since the latter’s arrest, the OCI has changed its stance and said it would “cooperate fully with any State inquiry into its handling of ticketing arrangements for the Rio Olympics”. It said in a statement that it had always acted properly and had cooperated fully with Brazilian authorities.
“This involves 1000 of the six million tickets, it involves the NOC of Ireland which has already launched an inquiry and obviously we wait to see what happens from that”.
Authorities have also issued warrants for four more executives at THG, including Marcus Evans, who owns Marcus Evans Group, the parent company and owner of English soccer club Ipswich Town.
Advertisement
The OCI has said it does not sell any tickets directly, however they have said “ATRs are entitled to mark up ticket prices in accordance with the terms of their contracts with the Rio 2016 Organising Committee”.
