Updated 15.32pm
A JUDGE IN Brazil has denied bail to Pat Hickey as he faces allegations of illegal resale of tickets for the Olympics.
Hickey was questioned by police in Rio de Janeiro overnight, after leaving the Samaritano Hospital, in the suburb of Barra under police escort in the direction of the Carlos Eboli Criminal Institute in downtown Rio.
He was held there for several hours, and gave a statement to Aloysio Falcão, the inspector leading the investigation.
He was denied bail.
Hickey left the institute in the back seat of a police car, hiding from photographers, and was taken to a procession centre at Police City in Jacaré before being transferred to a remand prison.
The state’s penitentiary service says Mr Hickey, who has temporarily stepped aside as OCI president, is being held in the José Frederico Marques Public jail, at Gericinó Penitentiary Complex, colloquially known as Bangu 10.
Federal investigations unit
The Civil Police also said they will refer his case to Polinter, a federal investigations unit.
Kevin Mallon, the Irish director of THG Sports, is also being held at Bangu Prison following his arrest on 5 August.
Earlier today, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) said it will “co-operate fully” with any State inquiry into its handling of ticketing arrangements for the Rio Olympics.
In a statement this afternoon, the body also said it will also commission its own inquiry into the scandal, in which Minister Shane Ross had unsuccessfully asked for an independent figure to partake.
“The previously announced internal inquiry by the OCI has been discontinued,” the OCI said.
The news comes as Minister for Sport Shane Ross meets with the Attorney General and other officials today to discuss the Government’s own response.
Speaking to reporters at Dublin Airport upon his return from Rio yesterday, Ross said the issue of an inquiry would be looked at “as a matter of urgency”.
Earlier today, the two companies at the centre of the controversy – hospitality firm THG and sports management company Pro10 – backed calls for an independent probe into the affair.
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