(ATR) The Olympic Council of Ireland tells Around the Rings it will provide "all relevant information" to the IOC to help it determine whether Pat Hickey can return to the Olympic Movement.
Asked if Hickey should be allowed to rejoin the Olympic fold in the wake of the Rio 2016 ticketing scandal, an OCI spokesperson said: "This is a matter for the IOC, and it is important that they have all relevant information in front of them when they are making their decision.
"The OCI will respond to any queries they might have in this regard."
OCI president Sarah Keane "has already said in her evidence to the Oireachtas joint committee last week that she believes it is likely that the new board will have difficulty with Mr Hickey returning to the [Irish] board".
Hickey must overcome a number of hurdles if he is to return to the Olympic Movement, following his arrest during Rio 2016 where he was charged with ticket touting, forming a cartel and illegal marketing at the Games. The scandal forced him to step aside from all of his Olympic functions, including the presidency of the OCI and European Olympic Committees, his IOC membership and vice presidency of the Association of National Olympic Committees.
Irish judge Carroll Moran last week published his report on the ticketing scandal. Although he found that Hickey was not criminally liable in Ireland, the report raised serious questions about the OCI’s ticketing arrangement with hospitality company THG and authorised ticket reseller Pro10.
On Monday, Brazilian prosecutor Marcos Kac, the man responsible for preparing the case against Hickey, told ATR he did not believe the Moran report cleared the former OCI boss of criminal wrongdoing as the ex-IOC executive board member had suggested. But Kac was unable to say if he would use the report in an upcoming trial for which preparations are ongoing.
"It absolutely did not clear anything!" Kac told ATR of the Moran report. "It’s a lie. The culpability of the accused is perennial in the process."
Hickey has not appeared before the Oireachtas committee to respond to questions about the ticketing scandal.
In response to questions to OCI president Sarah Keane about further developments in the fallout from the controversy, the Irish Olympic committee’s spokesperson said: "Our focus is on what we can control and what actions we can take around the matters facing us.
"There is a board meeting of the OCI towards the end of this month and the Moran Report and others matters referenced last week will be considered by the board."
One hot topic for discussion at that meeting is what happens to the agreement signed by Hickey with THG that has reportedly locked the company into a contract to be the OCI’s authorised ticket reseller until 2026.
The OCI declined to say if the contract could be cancelled, only that it was "taking legal advice on these contracts and it fully reserves its position on these documents".
Reported by Mark Bisson
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