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Brazil judge accepts charges against Pat Hickey and eight others

The official, who temporarily stood down as President of the OCI following his arrest on August 17, learned late on Friday that charges against him had been accepted by a judge in Rio de Janeiro.

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However, in the statement issued last night Mr Hickey said: “For clarity, I am not under house arrest as, like with so many things with this case, has been misreported by the media”.

Also charged with Mr Hickey and Mr Mallon are co-defendants Marcus Paul Evans, Michael Glynn, Ken Murray, Eamonn Collins, Maarten Van Os, David Patrick Gilmore, Martin Studd, and Barbara Zancope Carnieri.

Olympic Council of Ireland President Patrick Hickey is among ten people facing charges of ticket scalping, conspiracy and ambush marketing related to last month’s Olympics. Should they be found guilty of their charges they could face up to ten years in prison.

In a statement this evening released through his PR firm, Paul Allen and Associates, Hickey said: “I have just received formal notification from the Brazilian authorities of the charges laid against me“.

He added that he believes in the Brazilian judicial system and is confident he “will be discharged of all accusations”.

He also delivers a “wishlist” to Bach demanding 980 extra tickets, including 200 tickets for the men’s 100m final and 500 tickets for the men’s football final.

There are said to be 65 e-mail exchanges between the pair dating to 2014, but police investigator Aloysio Falcao said that the authorities have no evidence that Bach knew of the alleged ticket scam.

Bach caused a stir this week by failing to turn up for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Rio on Wednesday.

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

Mr Hickey says this has been a “life changing” experience for him and his family.

He adds that “Hickey is innocent until proven guilty and I, as the president of the International Olympic Committee, have received no official request from the Brazilian authorities”.

Hickey, ex-head of the Irish Olympic Committee, denies all allegations.

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The IOC claims that neither the committee nor its president is involved in ticketing.

Pat Hickey said that thousands of Irish people had sent him their supportHUMBERTO OHANA  AFP  GETTY IMAGES