Brazilian police seek to seize John Delaney’s passport

[ian1964 10,720]

FAI chief, who is OCI vice president, and five other OCI figures named in warrant following interview with Hickey over ticket controversy

 

A Brazilian judge has authorised the country’s police to seize the passport of Football Association of Ireland chief executive and Olympic Council of Ireland vice-president John Delaney as part of the investigation into alleged ticket touting at the Olympic Games.

 

Mr Delaney was one of six people listed on a warrant issued on Saturday by the same Rio court that authorised the arrest of Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) Pat Hickey last week as well as the detention of Irish man Kevin Mallon on August 5th.

 

Mr Delaney has previously been identified by Mr Hickey as “the favourite” to take over as OCI president in future.

 

Also on the list are acting OCI president William O’Brien and OCI officials Linda O’Reilly, Dermot Henihan, Kevin Kilty and Stephen Martin. As well as their passports, the warrant also authorised the seizure of phones, computers and documents.

 

It is believed only the last three are in Brazil, and that their passports have been seized. The judge justified the search and seizure warrant saying it was necessary “to elucidate the modus operandi of a criminal association”.

 

The warrant was issued after Mr Hickey told police in an interview last Thursday that it was a decision by the whole OCI executive committee to nominate British company THG as its authorised ticket reseller for the Rio Olympics.

 

Rejection

Rio’s police claim to have uncovered a scheme that saw OCI tickets passed to Mr Mallon, THG’s Dublin finance director, via the OCI’s official ticket vendor Pro10, to circumvent Rio’s organisers rejection of its application to be the OCI’s official vendor.

 

Mr Hickey, OCI, Pro10 and THG have denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

 

Police executed the latest warrant on Sunday morning. Police showed up at the OCI headquarters at the Olympic village as well as accommodation outside it.

 

Mr Henihan, Mr Kilty and Mr Martin had to surrender their passports and were told to appear at a Rio police station tomorrow for questioning.

 

Police also took computers, mobile phones and what is believed to be a significant number of unused tickets that had been held in a safe.

Seized tickets

An OCI statement released after the raid read: “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.”

 

It also said the three men whose passports were taken had agreed to appear for questioning tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Hickey will appear before a Brazilian judge tomorrow, claimed International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach.

 

But a spokesperson for Rio’s justice system said no date had been set yet for a judge to hear Mr Hickey’s case. He stepped down temporarily as OCI president following his arrest last week.

 

Mr Hickey also stepped aside from his role on the IOC executive committee. A judge could decide to throw out the police case against him, or accepting it, rule on whether he can await its conclusion out of prison.

 

Rio’s penitentiary administration on Sunday confirmed Mr Hickey and Mr Mallon continue to share a cell in a remand prison in the west of Rio.

 

Minister for Sports Shane Ross is expected to meet his officials on Monday to examine potential terms of reference for the Government’s non-statutory inquiry into the ticketing affair. He is also due to consult Fianna Fáil before deciding on the scope of the investigation and selecting the retired judge to oversee the work.

 

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/brazilian-police-seek-to-seize-john-delaney-s-passport-1.2763730

[Scott7 5,937]

Is Delaney lawwell's chap in EUFA?

[Bearman 9]

Is Delaney lawwell's chap in EUFA?

 

Yup.

 

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/fai-boss-delaney-battles-for-celtic-at-uefa-hearing-26324959.html