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Judge accepts charges against Hickey and Mallon

Hickey is facing charges in Brazil for ticket scalping, conspiracy, and ambush marketing in a case that broke during the Olympics.

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Police investigators in Rio told BBC they would like to know what Bach’s influence was over Olympic ticketing policy.

“We are interested to hear the president of the International Olympic Committee since he was quoted in messages”, the special police director general Ronaldo Oliveira, told the UOL news website.

The police say Mr Bach is being treated as a witness, not a suspect.

Patrick Hickey, left, sent Thomas Bach a “wish-list” of events for which he wanted more tickets.

Bach failed to return to Brazil for Wednesday’s opening of the Paralympics, instead attending a friend’s funeral in Germany.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said Brazilian police have not contacted it for information about the ticketing controversy that led to the arrest of Patrick Hickey last month. Should they be found guilty of their charges they could face up to ten years in prison.

Police said it is now up to a public prosecutor to decide whether to press charges against him.

Police said the local Rio 2016 organising committee had cooperated in the investigation but lamented that nobody from the IOC had come forward to give the global organisation’s side of the story.

Police have said that Hickey plotted with businessmen to transfer tickets illegally from a sports company called Pro 10 to hospitality provider THG Sports, which was a non-authorised vendor and allegedly sold them for very high fees. All involved have denied wrongdoing.

The ring appears to have operated similar scams at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2012 London Games, according to the sources, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly.

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Hickey had been jailed in Rio’s notorious Bangu prison since his August 10 arrest, but was allowed to leave just over a week ago on condition that he remain in Brazil.

Pat Hickey leaves a police station