The official, Pat Hickey, formerly served as president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) and was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
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The investigation has been unfolding since the Olympics began August 5, when the head of THG Sports was arrested with tickets allocated to the Olympic Council of Ireland.
It is claimed by the Brazilian media that Hickey’s arrest was in connection with that of countryman Kevin Mallon, who is alleged to have passed OCI tickets to THG Sports.
Mr Hickey’s lawyers said in a statement that, contrary to police reports, the OCI president did not try to escape when officers arrived at his hotel last Wednesday and did not try to resist arrest.
THG were the Irish authorised ticket reseller (ATR) for London 2012 and Sochi 2014 but were not selected for Rio 2016, so had no rights to sell tickets.
The most recent email exchanges, from August 3, relate to NOC (National Olympic Committee) allocated tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies, with Hickey giving Evans license to “use them all” as he did not require tickets for either ceremony.
OCI’s team leader Kevin Kilty and chief executive Stephen Martin (pictured arriving for questioning) spoke to police for almost four hours as witnesses in the investigation that has ensnared Pat Hickey. In Kilty’s room, police found 228 tickets, which the Irishman told police were reserved for athletes but had been left unused.
Mr Kilty told reporters “we are here to cooperate” before entering the Cidade de Policia (Police City) in northern Rio.
Chef de Mission Kevin Kilty and CEO Stephen Martin were also due to meet with police but the pair have rescheduled their meeting for tomorrow.
A director of THG Sports, Mr Kevin Mallon, was arrested this month in Brazil and is now sharing a cell with Mr Hickey in the Bangu 10 prison. The charges carry a maximum of seven years in jail on conviction.
An independent inquiry into the alleged ticketing scandal is to be set up in the Republic.
Since then the original OCI internal investigation has been abandoned in favour of a non-statutory official inquiry by a retired Irish judge whose name has not yet been released. They said that some of the tickets which had a face value of $1,000 were going for more than $8,000.
“There are a lot of messages mentioning William O’Brien along with Patrick Hickey”, Aloysio Falcao, one of the investigators in the case, said after a news conference.
Mr Henihan, who is the General Secretary of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), fell ill shortly after having his possessions seized.
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The two men will now have their passports returned to them and they can return to Ireland.
