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Rio court to return passports to Irish Olympic officials
OCI chief executive Stephen Martin, from Bangor, County Down, and Kevin Kilty spoke to police for four hours on Thursday as part of an investigation into illegal Olympic ticket sales.
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Two Olympic Council of Ireland officials are due to provide statements to police this afternoon.
Earlier this week, the pair had volunteered to be interviewed by police as their passports were seized along with laptops and mobile phones.
OCI president Patrick Hickey (71) was arrested last week in a dawn raid at his hotel and transferred to a hospital with chest pains.
Authorities say the Irish company Pro 10 Sports Management was created to facilitate the transfer of tickets between that country’s committee and an unauthorized vendor called THG Sports that would sell them for high fees disguised as hospitality services.
Mr Martin and Mr Kilty are witnesses but not suspects in the investigation, police have now said and will recommend the return of their passports.
Both Kilty and Martin, victor of an Olympic gold medal as part of Britain’s hockey team at Seoul 1988, arrived wearing full Irish Olympic kit.
With the head of the Olympic Committee of Ireland in jail on allegations of being involved in a ticket touting scam, it seems that the Irish participation in this year’s Rio Olympics has just gone from bad to worse.
It is alleged by Brazilian police, however, that Pro10 Sports Management, the Dublin-based company who were selected, were just a front operation to hide THG’s involvement. “Nothing to say, sorry”, Kilty said to reporters as he walked out of the police headquarters with Martin and another man. Both THG and PRO10 have denied any wrongdoing.
Rio’s police force arrested THG’s Kevin James Mallon and his interpreter on July 5, the opening day of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Hickey remained in Bangu prison and according to a senior manager of Rio’s judicial processing it will be at least this Friday before his case is heard.
A long-standing member of the St. Michael’s Rowing Club in the city centre, Mr Henihan had been questioned as part of the ongoing police investigation into ticket touting within the OCI.
Olympic Village – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 06/08/2016.
“This arrest and detention occurred over seven days ago and still no charges have been brought, nor has an appropriate venue for a bail application been made available to Pat Hickey”, they wrote.
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“Submissions will be invited from athletes and their families on their experience of ticketing allocation and availability arrangements for Rio 2016”, the OCI said.