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Former OCI President Pat Hickey RollingNews.ie

Rio Olympics ticketing controversy probe cost the State over €300k

Pat Hickey and other key figures were criticised for not cooperating with Rio ticketing probe.

THE PROBE INTO the Rio Olympics ticketing controversy cost the State over  €312,765.

The non-statutory inquiry carried out by Judge Carroll Moran sought to establish the practice of ticket distribution adopted by the Olympic Council of Ireland for the Rio Olympics.

It also investigated ticket practices for the London 2012 Olympics, as well as the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

The inquiry was launched after the former head of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Pat Hickey, was arrested in Rio de Janeiro after it was alleged he was involved in a ticket-touting operation.

Hickey’s court case was later suspended. He denied any wrongdoing.

While the court case was dropped, the Moran inquiry’s detailed report said the probe was limited by a lack of communication from some Brazilian and international stakeholders.

Former Olympic Council of Ireland chief executive Pat Hickey; Pro10 Sports Management, which was the ticket re-seller for the OCI; ticket re-seller THG, and the International Olympic Committee all came in for criticism from Judge Moran for not cooperating with the investigation.

In his 226-page report Judge Moran wrote that his investigation “was barred direct access to the details of ticketing, some or all of which were within the knowledge of Pro10, THG and [Rio local organising committee] ROCOGT”.

“The provenance and destination of each ticket and the consideration given for them
at each step in their journey were never revealed to the Inquiry.

A general history was given to the Inquiry by some of the participants but, inevitably, not in the necessary detail. This has substantially undermined the ability of the Inquiry to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the facts.

In a statement, Pat Hickey said that the report contained “significant inaccuracies”.

Sports Minister Shane Ross said Moran completed and published his report in June 2017, which can be considered the completion date of his inquiry.

“The total cost of the Moran Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the receipt, distribution and sale of tickets for the Rio Olympic Games and ancillary matters amounted to €312,765. There are no outstanding amounts to be paid,” he added.

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6 Comments
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    Mute Chauncey Gardiner
    Favourite Chauncey Gardiner
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    Jun 9th 2018, 4:05 PM

    ….and once again it amounted to nothing!

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    Mute Gareth Cooney
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    Jun 9th 2018, 4:04 PM

    €300k plus plus plus
    Shane Ross excursion to Rio was nearly that alone!!

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    Mute Charliegrl80
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    Jun 9th 2018, 4:06 PM

    That’s about the cost of 5 or 6 apartments in Tipperary that could have house a few families. Will we ever learn anything in this Country, he should have had to pay his own way out of that one!

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    Mute Dj
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    Jun 9th 2018, 4:11 PM

    A €300k inquiry that amounted to absolutely nothing. Great.

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Jun 9th 2018, 4:23 PM

    There have been many instances in this country of people abusing positions of trust . People at the head of professional bodies nearly bankrupting the body with their remuneration, people at the head of charities enriching themselves and their families, people in the sporting world running little empires, and others abusing state contracts and some odd stuff with trade union accounts, or politicians abusing seriously abusing expenses with fake invoices . Most of the time when these are uncovered it is a scandal but amidst the hand-wringing it is said ‘nothing illegal was done’. However if there was a law on the statute books that made it a crime to abuse the trust of a large section of the public, call it ‘criminal abuse of the public purse’ or something, it would be a serious deterrent.

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