At their press conference the Rio police provided printouts of some of the emails between Evans, the head of THG, an worldwide sports hospitality company.
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It followed earlier operations by police against what they say is an worldwide ticket scalping ring.
If you have a ticket for the All-Ireland and you paid 100 for it, and I really want it badly and pay you 1,000 for it, are you committing a crime?
The Irish Post can confirm that the passports, laptops and mobile phones seized belonged to Mr Kevin Kilty, OCI Honorable Treasurer and Chef de Mission; Mr Stephen Martin, OCI CEO; and Dermot Henihan OCI General Secretary.
PRO10, Brazilian police said, was set up as a substitute for THG, effectively rerouting tickets originally intended for the OCI, and not meant for sale, to the other company.
In a separate statement, a Brazilian judge announced an order to seize the passports of OCI interim president Willie O’Brien, personal assistant to the presidency Linda O’Reilly and OCI vice president John Delaney.
“He mentioned the three people who come here today and he mentions three others”.
Mr Hickey has temporarily stood aside from his role as Olympic Council of Ireland president following the controversy.
Police said that the OCI may have worked to transfer the tickets to THG.
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 strongest evidence police have found are emails exchanged between Hickey and the head of company that wasn’t an authorized vendor discussing opening and closing ceremony tickets to resell.
Hickey denied any involvement with THG before his arrest.
Lawyers for Mr Hickey in Brazil and Ireland did not return e-mails or phone messages.
The arrests are an embarrassment for the International Olympic Committee, which has, so far, not criticized or supported Hickey.
On his arrest, the 71-year-old executive was brought to hospital to undergo tests as he told police of a heart condition he is being treated for. Their statement reads: “Mr Hickey did not try to escape as informed by the police”. He is due to have his passport returned to him in the coming days. The video shot during his arrest shows that he was awakening at that very same time, wearing a robe.
“His wife was took [taken] by surprise with nearly 10 men standing on her door at 6am, and panicked”.
No arrests have been made but the officials have agreed to go to police stations for questioning.
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Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, added: “What we know is that [Hickey] has not been heard by a judge yet and, more so, the presumption of innocence prevails”.
