Early this morning in Rio, Brazilian police arrived at the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) offices in the Olympic village and at OCI accommodation outside of the village. They were met by OCI personnel. No arrests were made. The police took possession of their passports along with their phones and laptops. The OCI personnel were asked to present for questioning at a local police station on Tuesday (23rd August) next. They agreed to do so.
The OCI had an allocation of unused official tickets in their offices which had been made available for athletes’ families and friends. The police also took possession of these tickets, according to an OCI press statement.
Pat Hickey, who has temporarily stood down as president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, was arrested at his hotel early on Wednesday morning, by police from the Rio Police fraud unit.
He is facing three charges of facilitating ticket touting, formation of a cartel and ambush or illicit marketing.
This evening the Executive Committee of the Olympic Council of Ireland met for the first time in person since the Games began in Rio. The Committee discussed recent events in Rio regarding ticketing arrangements at the Games which it takes very seriously.
The Executive Committee made the following decisions:
· They appointed a three person crisis management subcommittee to lead the Council’s response to the recent events in Rio. This group comprises Sarah Keane (Swim Ireland), Prof Ciaran O’Cathain (Athletics Ireland) and Robert Norwood (Snowsports Association of Ireland).
· The subcommittee will appoint an international accountancy firm to conduct an independent review of ticketing arrangements in Rio. The firm will be selected this week and its work will begin immediately and its terms of reference will be published.
· The report prepared by the firm will be presented to the judge who will chair the State inquiry into the OCI’s handling of ticketing at the Rio Olympics.