The chairman of the Olympic Council of Ireland’s (OCI) crisis committee has resigned after the organisation postponed a review of its handling of ticketing arrangements due to the threat of legal action by president Pat Hickey, who is fighting charges of ticket touting during this year’s Olympic Games.
The OCI said the independent review had been postponed pending the outcome of criminal proceedings in Brazil against Hickey, who stood down on an interim basis following his arrest in August. The OCI said Hickey had threatened to seek an injunction preventing the review’s completion.
Ciarán Ó Catháin, a former president of Athletics Ireland, was appointed to lead a three-man crisis committee set up to lead the internal inquiries into the arrangements for ticketing at this summer’s games after 10 people – including Hickey and Kevin Mallon, an executive at THG Sports, the OCI’s official ticket partner – were charged in relation to touting in August. Hickey and Mallon deny the charges.
Ó Catháin quit his post on Wednesday after the review, which is being carried out by professional services network Grant Thornton, was postponed.
“This decision was taken following the receipt of a letter from Mr Hickey’s lawyers this week in which he threatened to make an application to the high court for an injunction preventing the completion of the review,” an OCI statement said.
The OCI executive committee said it had decided “not to incur the very significant additional cost” of defending any legal proceedings.
The OCI is to hold an extraordinary general meeting in January 2017 to elect a new executive committee following the resignation of a number of members.
According to the BBC news website, it is understood a separate report on corporate governance arrangements at the OCI, carried out by Deloitte, will be issued to OCI member associations next week.
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