Sinead O’Carroll of TheJournal.ie tweeted the following pictures from Rio de Janeiro earlier this evening.
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The two Olympic executives wore Ireland’s team tracksuits as they offered evidence. Mr Kilty said the police raid on Sunday was “as out of the blue for us as it was for anyone else”.
The OCI said: “Brazilian police arrived at the OCI offices in the Olympic village and at OCI accommodation outside of the village”.
A Brazilian judge also ordered the seizure of the passports of stand-in OCI president Willie O’Brien, vice-president John Delaney, and an OCI personal assistant, Linda O’Reilly.
Police in Rio are seeking the help of Sports Minister Shane Ross, as they continue an investigation into alleged ticket touting.
Police seized tickets for the Olympics from a hotel a week ago, some of which were part of Ireland’s allocation.
Police are seeking to establish if the decision to grant the ticketing licence for Rio 2016 first to THG and secondly to PRO10 was mutual or made independently by Mr Hickey.
But any hope that Thursday’s interviews would wrap up as quickly as Mr Henihan’s gradually disappeared along with the handsome winter sunshine.
At a press conference in Rio on Tuesday evening, the officers revealed that mails between THG’s Evans and Mr Hickey went back to 2010.
The company said it had legitimate customers for its tickets and Mr Mallon was acting as a collection agent for them in Rio, meeting clients.
As the press milled around them while their lawyer wondered where their vehicle was, Ronaldo de Oliveira emerged from the same building to brief the media.
A long-standing member of the St. Michael’s Rowing Club in the city centre, Mr Henihan had been questioned as part of the ongoing police investigation into ticket touting within the OCI.
Henrihan has been cleared of any wrongdoing, but Kilty and Martin face further questioning by Rio police.
“We are continuing the investigation into the worldwide scheme of ticket scalping”, Rio police said Sunday after a raid on Ireland’s office at the athletes’ village.
Mr Kilty and Mr Martin left the station shortly after 6.15pm (10.15pmGMT) with Mr Kilty telling reporters: “We are happy to have cooperated”.
“They collaborated and confirmed the participation of Patrick Hickey as the big chief of this operation”. This was very important. “That all the actions were carried out by him”, he said.
Should Mr Hickey be found guilty, he could be jailed for up to seven years. “The police are working to prove that he [Hickey] carried out criminal acts”.
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The Irish Independent reported that Mr Lavigne said: “Mr Hickey has been arrested due to suppositions that are not supported by any material evidence or proof of the alleged facts presented by the police”.
