The Public Prosecutors office in Rio de Janeiro has formally laid charges before a judge in relation to Pat Hickey and his role in the alleged ticket touting controversy during the Olympic Games.
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Marcos Kac, a state prosecutor, said on Tuesday he made a decision to charge Olympic Council of Ireland President Patrick Hickey and nine others with ticket scalping, conspiracy and ambush marketing, after reviewing the police investigation.
A police official said Hickey is declining to answer police questions, while the Irishman did not comment upon leaving a Rio de Janeiro station.
“Mr Bach did not reply but we know that Mr Hickey received 296 extra tickets for the Rio Olympic Games and that is why we want to question the president of the IOC”, the investigator said.
Barbosa said he would send his report on Thursday to state prosecutors, who will then decide on presenting formal charges to a judge. It is expected his case will be handed over to the courts later this week.
“The next step is the court now has to accept the indictments”, said Kac.
Both Mr Mallon and Mr Hickey have had their passports confiscated and police said they were keen that they remain in Brazil for the duration of proceedings.
“All tickets sold by Pro10 as the Irish ATR for the Rio 2016 Olympics were sold fully in line with the ATR guidelines”.
The passports of both men are now in the custody of Civil Police, who led the investigation into the controversy.
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-authorized vendor and allegedly sold them for very high fees.
The 71-year-old was released last week from the Bangu 10 maximum security prison, where he had been held since his August 10 arrest at a luxury beachfront hotel during the Games.
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Although THG were the ATR for London 2012 and Sochi 2014, they were not selected for Rio 2016 and so had no rights to sell tickets.
