Rio ticket sales: Three OCI officials have passports seized by police

• 24 minutes ago
 
• From the sectionEurope

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Image captionThe OCI said the officials have been asked to present themselves at a Rio police station

Three senior Olympic Council of Ireland officials, including one from Northern Ireland, have had their passports, phones and laptops seized in Brazil.

It is part of the investigation into alleged illegal ticket sales.

RTÉ and the Irish Times say the officials include OCI chief executive Stephen Martin - an Olympic gold medal winner - from Bangor, County Down.

The OCI has appointed a crisis management committee to lead its response to Brazil.

Mr Martin, a former hockey player, was previously a director of coaching at Ulster Hockey.

The two other executives are reported to be OCI Secretary General Dermot Henihan and Kevin Kilty, Ireland's Olympic chef de mission.

No arrests were made during the search on Sunday.

Brazilian police are also reported to be seeking the passports of Football Association of Ireland chief executive and OCI vice-president John Delaney; acting OCI president Willie O'Brien and OCI official Linda O'Reilly.

RTÉ says there is nothing to suggest impropriety on the part of any of those officials.

Image captionStephen Martin is the Irish Olympic Council's chief executive

In a statement released overnight, the OCI said it was appointing a crisis management committee to lead the council's response to events in Brazil.

The three people in the committee are Sarah Keane, Swim Ireland, Prof Ciaran O'Cathain, Athletics Ireland, and Robert Norwood, Snowsports Association of Ireland.

The statement said an international accountancy firm would be asked to conduct an independent review of ticketing arrangements in Rio.

The firm will be selected this week and its work will begin immediately and its terms of reference will be published.

Its report will be presented to a judge who will chair the state inquiry into the OCI's handling of ticketing at the Rio Olympics, the statement said.

On Sunday, the OCI said its officials had agreed to go to a police station in Rio on Tuesday for questioning.

"The OCI had an allocation of unused official tickets in their offices which had been made available for athletes' families and friends. The police also took possession of these tickets," the OCI said.

Former Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Patrick Hickey was arrested in connection with the alleged illegal sales on Wednesday.

He is being held alongside THG director Kevin Mallon at Rio's Bangu 10 prison.