Updated 10.26pm
POLICE IN RIO have said that their investigation into alleged ticket touting ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games will be complete on Thursday when they will hand all information over to the courts.
Kevin Mallon, the THG director who was arrested in Rio de Janeiro as part of the Brazilian police investigation, met with civil police investigators this evening.
Ricardo Barbosa, the chief of NAGE (a civil police unit that deals with large events), told reporters that as the Irish man had already been indicted, he had a constitutional right to remain silent.
“He was guaranteed his rights, and he preferred to remain in silence,” he added, noting that police wanted to ask questions.
On Thursday, our investigation will be completed. We have plenty of documentary evidence; the analysis of material gathered has huge relevance for the investigation. The investigation will be complete on Thursday and all facts will be passed to the court.
He also said that the courts will decide whether Mallon and Pat Hickey – who also faces charges of facilitating ticket touting and ambush marketing – can have their passports returned to them.
“This is up to the powers of the judiciary,” he explained. “In our opinion, it was necessary to retain their passports. Now it’s in the hands of the courts. Their permanence [in Brazil] is important for the investigation…”
Lead investigator Aloysio Falcao had said earlier that Mallon was invited to appear at 2pm Brazilian time (6pm Irish time), to answer “new questions” that have arisen in their ongoing investigation.
He entered police headquarters in Jacaré, flanked by his lawyer Franklin Gomes, at 3.17pm local time (7.17pm Irish time). Dressed in casual clothes, having arrived in a taxi with his lawyer, he told reporters:
I have nothing to say.
Hickey, former president of the Irish Olympic Council, is due to give testimony at 2pm (Brazilian time) tomorrow as part of the same ticket touting investigation.
Hickey and Mallon shared the same cell in Bangu maximum security prison, until Mallon’s release on bail on Saturday 27 August. Hickey was released days later.
Hickey, who has stepped aside temporarily from his roles at the head of the OCI and EOC, is facing charges of facilitating ticket touting, the creation of a cartel, and illicit marketing. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Public defender’s office
The file containing allegations against Hickey remains with the public defender’s office in Rio de Janeiro. Once the prosecutor decides what charges, if any, Hickey should answer to, the file will be passed to a local judge, who must, in turn, decide whether or not to accept or reject charges against the 71-year-old Irish man.
In the case of Mallon, charges have already been paid by a public defender’s office, and his team await confirmation of whether the responsible judge will accept or reject charges.
If the judge responsible for either case decides to reject charges, there will be no case to answer to.
Should a Brazilian judge opt to accept charges laid against either Irish man, a court case could take some months to be listed in court.
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