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Hickey had contact with ticket seller THG days before Rio games, police claim

Police in Rio claim Pat Hickey offered Olympic tickets to the head of blacklisted seller THG. The...
Newstalk
Newstalk

06.58 24 Aug 2016


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Hickey had contact with ticket...

Hickey had contact with ticket seller THG days before Rio games, police claim

Newstalk
Newstalk

06.58 24 Aug 2016


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Police in Rio claim Pat Hickey offered Olympic tickets to the head of blacklisted seller THG.

The British firm THG was not permitted to sell tickets for Rio, but the OCI president reportedly discussed their sale with its CEO up until two days before this year's games kicked off.

In one e-mail, dated August 3rd with the subject: 'ATR meeting', Mr Hickey allegedly told the owner of the ticket agency Marcus Evans he did not need any of Ireland's national allocation of tickets for the opening or closing ceremonies - so THG could 'use them all'.

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It reads: "Thanks Marcus. I can confirm to you now that I do not require any of opening or closing ceremony tickets that was part of our NOC (national Olympic committee) allocation - you can use them all."

This was in reply to an e-mail from Mr Evans, who said he was glad to hear everything was 'coming together' for Mr Hickey.

Mr Hickey and THG deny any wrongdoing.

Brazilian police meanwhile have said that OCI official Dermot Henihan has no case to answer and can leave the country.

Cathal McMahon, a reporter with Independent.ie, is in Rio and following the story.

He told Newstalk Breakfast other officials are now due to meet with police on Thursday.

Here at home, the inquiry into the Olympic ticket scandal is expected to include a clause that could upgrade it to a statutory level if required.

Yesterday, opposition parties were requested to send in suggestions for the inquiry's terms of reference to the Sports Minister Shane Ross.

The Social Democrats want the investigation to focus on ticket distributor selection and transparency.

The party's co-leader Catherine Murphy says the inquiry needs to work towards restoring confidence in sport administration here.


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