RIO DE JANEIRO Arrested IOC official Pat Hickey was on Thursday released from hospital and taken to a Rio de Janeiro police station for questioning, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) said. Hickey has temporarily stepped down from all of official Olympic roles.
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He said that he was “absolutely shattered” by Mr Hickey’s attitude.
The 71-year-old International Olympic Committee executive was denied bail after his legal team argued unsuccessfully that he was being detained illegally following his early-morning arrest Wednesday at his hotel.
The Olympic Council of Ireland has said it will fully co-operate with the Irish inquiry into the alleged illegal sale of tickets.
“While THG respects the Brazilian police process, which clearly is different to that in the United Kingdom or Ireland, THG believes that a full and proper judicial assessment can not be achieved without consideration of, and access to, all the THG compliance documentation which THG has followed in the provision of hospitality packages in Rio”, the company said. “Until then, the presumption of innocence prevails”, the committee said in a statement. They asked for the hotel’s help and found him in the adjacent room, registered under his son’s name.
Police arrived at the IOC’s hotel at 6 a.m. and found only Hickey’s wife, who refused to tell them where he was. Moments later, he walks out in a white bathrobe. They went on to say that he is “entitled to natural justice and due process”. He remained in the hospital under police custody.
Mr Ross said the Government did not think compellability would be essential at this stage of the proposed investigation because a large number of the interested parties had agreed to co-operate with any inquiry it set up.
“We don’t know what the allegations or charges are yet”, he said.
He is being held alongside THG director Kevin Mallon at Rio’s notorious Bangu 10 prison. Mallon was arrested along with a local employee who was working as an interpreter.
Ticket touting is illegal in Brazil and police and prosecutors have been cracking down on the practice since the country has hosted the globe’s two biggest sporting events, the 2014 World Cup and now the Olympics.
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.
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.
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Some Irish tickets for the Olympics’ opening ceremony with a face value of $1,400 were sold for $8,000, police said.
