ANOC Loan, Hickey Stuck in Brazilian Legal Limbo

(ATR) A $450,000 loan that bought freedom for ex-Irish NOC president and suspended IOC member Patrick Hickey remains unpaid and on the books of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

The money was used by Hickey to post bail in Brazil where he faces charges involving ticket sales to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Hickey was arrested at dawn in the IOC hotel in Rio just days before the end of the Games.

Jailed for two weeks, Hickey was freed to await trial but was not permitted to return to his home in Ireland. But in late 2016 arrangements were made for Hickey to leave Brazil with the posting of bail.

The money came as a loan from ANOC, the umbrella organization representing the world’s 206 National Olympic Committees. At the time of his arrest Hickey was a vice president of ANOC and president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, in addition to IOC member.

But since returning home to Ireland, Hickey has yet to be summoned for trial in Brazil, now more than three years since he left the country. There is no word on when the case might be adjudicated.

ANOC, in a statement to Around the Rings, says the lingering loanis still expected to be repaid but that a provision remains in place should the money not be recouped. The loan,which currently sits in a Brazilian court's escrow account,was shown as a loss in ANOC's financial statements from 2016. The provision covering the full amount was also recorded in ANOC's financial statements from 2016.

"ANOC has always been very transparent in its decision to grant a temporary interest-free loan to Mr. Patrick Hickey for medical and humanitarian reasons, and has disclosed this in its financial statements every year starting in 2016.

"It should be noted that the payment was made by ANOC to an Escrow Account to pay for the bail and to allow for Mr. Hickey's release. If and when repaid by the Brazilian authorities, the amount will be repaid to ANOC. In such a situation, the Executive Council's decision was to keep the loan on the books and not to write it off.

"However, a provision covering the amount of the loan was also recorded in order to apply a prudent approach when preparing the financial statements as the timing and the outcome of any trial is uncertain by nature and, as mentioned in the financial statements, the financial capacity of Mr. P. Hickey to face his financial obligations could not be documented," says the statement.

Besides the loan, the only other outstanding matter that would be resolved with adjudication of the charges is Hickey’s IOC membership. He is self-suspended from the IOC pending resolution of the case which is also the subject of an IOC Ethics Commission file. The commission says it is waiting for the Brazilian case to be settled before it can make any findings. Given the pace of justice in Brazil, the IOC question could be settled when Hickey hits the age 80 retirement rule -- in five more years.

Homepage photo: ATR

Reported by Ed Hula.