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Pat Hickey could face “eight to ten years in jail” if convicted

Police investigators in Rio said Bach received personal requests for hundreds of high-value tickets, for the Olympics opening ceremony, the 100 metre final and the football final from Hickey.

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Police investigators said the scheme was planned to bring in US$3 million (NZ$4.06m).

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.

Earlier this week, the International Olympic Committee announced that Bach had no plans to attend the Paralympic Games, being held from September 7-18 in Rio, stating that he was to attend a ceremony in honor of the deceased former German president Walter Scheel.

He instead attended the official state mourning ceremony for Walter Scheel, the former West Germany President, who died at the age of 97, in Berlin.

The IOC said it would not comment further because it is “an ongoing legal procedure”.

The IOC promised to cooperate on Wednesday but it was unclear what arrangements had been made between its officials and the Brazilian authorities.

The OCI head was arrested on August 17 during the games in his Rio hotel room.

Bach’s absence from the Paralympic opening ceremony is unprecedented for an International Olympic Committee president since 1984, and had already led to speculation in the Brazilian media.

An IOC member since 1995 Hickey, 71, was arrested on August 17 before being released on health grounds under condition of remaining in Brazil.

Hickey has since temporarily resigned from the Irish Olympic Committee and other posts related to the Olympic Games. They have accused PRO10 of funneling tickets to THG Sports which sold them illegally at inflated prices.

Two other Irishmen are also facing charges or are being sought by police.

The eight other suspects are businessmen with Pro10 and THG Sports who are not in Brazil, including Marcus Evans, who owns THG Sports’ parent company, as well as English soccer club Ipswich Town.

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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.

Brazilian prosecutors lay charges before judge over Rio Games alleged ticket touting