The head of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) was arrested in Brazil earlier today (Wednesday) in connection with the THG Sports ticket scandal that has dogged the Rio 2016 Games.
OCI President Pat Hickey was detained at the Hotel Windsor Marapendi hotel in Barra da Tijuca.
Police said they have evidence Hickey was part of the scheme through which OCI tickets for the Games were unlawfully resold by employees of THG Sports, the British hospitality company.
The controversy broke almost 10 days ago when Kevin Mallon, an executive of THG, was arrested in possession of almost 800 tickets, some of which were believed to have come from the OCI.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that THG Sports manned the telephone lines at certain times of the day for the Irish authorised tickets dealer, Pro10 Sports Management.
Pro10 told the Irish Times newspaper that callers were redirected to THG out of office hours. It said THG was not paid for its services.
“Outside of these hours, and because of the time difference between Ireland and Brazil, the Pro10 phone line diverted to the THG phone line as this phone line was manned round the clock and could deal with any collection queries for Pro10 customers,” the company told the Irish Times.
“As a THG employee was assisting with ticket collection, this would ensure customers could access information on how to collect the tickets they had paid Pro10 for if a Pro10 employee was not available to provide them with the collection details.”
THG is not the authorised reseller or distributor of tickets for the OCI for Rio, although it held the contract for the 2012 London Games.
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