27/09/2016 Spotlight

The Rio Olympics. Over two weeks of sport and sunshine on the Atlantic

coast. Athletes coming from practically every nation on Earth to

compete. When we arrived during the Paralympics, the atmosphere in

Brazil was still electric. When you stand here and take all of it takes

your breath away, the away, the sounds, the beautiful weather, a

tangible sense of excitement in the air. But this year, amid the

competition and the colour, there was controversy. First to that

arrest in Brazil of Pat Hickey. Right in the middle of the Games,

Alan's Olympic chief Pat Hickey was arrested and taken to one of

Brazil's most notorious prisons. Now he is charged with being part of an

alleged ticket touting ring and has had his passport seized. Pat Hickey

has said he is innocent but he will remain in Rio to fight the charges.

Pat Hickey has been involved with the Olympic sports since 1981. He

became president of the Olympic Council of Ireland in 1989. A

position he held until his arrest when he suspended himself from the

roll. After becoming chief of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Pat

Hickey rose to prominence on the world stage, rubbing shoulders with

the great and the good. And in the Olympic movement, he had become

president of the European Olympic Committees. During his journey to

the top, Pat Hickey has at times been a controversial figure and

sometimes got on the wrong side of athletes. On one occasion, he was

heavily criticised for his views on certain Olympians. Paul is an

international cyclist who competed for Ireland at the summer Olympic

Games in 1984. Now a writer, he recalls Pat Hickey criticising

athletes after the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He used the fact that the

team had not performed well really weighed into the performance and the

athletes. I wrote a piece about at the time. And the reaction of the

athletes to this, how much they resented Pat Hickey and what he said

about them and what he said about how they had performed.

Gaming is one of Alan's most celebrated athletes. In an interview

at the time, he was asked what his views were about the criticisms. Pat

Hickey has laid it on the line, he has said that second raters need not

apply for Athens in 2004. I was disgusted with him in the paper when

I read those quotes from him and his viewpoints on second raters. Do you

know what, to be upfront, Pat Hickey was a second rater himself going

into the Olympic Games a number of years ago as a participant in judo.

I came into my sport to make one spot of judo and rose up the ranks

in competition and became president of the Irish judo Association and

that led me on to a delegate of the Olympic Committee. Pat Hickey has

said he spent his time in the Olympic movement serving

sportspeople. I am not a paid official, I am a volunteer, I am not

in the business of sport, as such, I have done long years of voluntary

serving. Top Olympic volunteers are well looked after, they are

constantly on business right around the world and receive daily

payments. Every time they are on duty. As a member of the Executive

of the International Olympic Committee, Pat Hickey receives $900

each day. So for 17 days of an Olympics, that would amount to

$15,300. A bit of celebrating, we were on the podium and danced. Some

elite athletes can only dream of money. Like the O'Donovan brothers

who competed in Rio. We have won two silver medals in going, those two

rowers were funded to around 12,000 each year. That is as much as Pat

Hickey got per day at the games. Do not tell me that the sportspeople

are not aware of that, that creates resentment now. That is across all

of the sport that resentment. Unhappiness about Irish Olympic

funding applies to not just a rowing, Alan's most decorated recent

Olympian is the Belfast boxer Paddy Barnes. I spoke to his father,

Patrick, at the boxing club in Belfast. The greatest ability Paddy

has got is the ability to keep going and to want to win. He wanted to

make the best of what he has and he is prepared to do what is necessary,

watch is not easy. Last year he qualified for the Olympics and he

travelled 30,000 miles in 14 weeks. Seven different countries. Paddy won

bronze in Beijing in 2008, but again in London in four years later he did

likewise. But despite the success in the ring and some funding, finance

and security has not been easy to come by. Funding what on how

successful you are, there is a trait sets down that you must achieve to

qualify for certain amounts of money. Paddy Barnes received 40,000

euros funding each year across the Olympic Games that he took part in.

Beijing, London and Rio. It has to cover his whole life, his personal

training and travel. He has to live on that, has car has to run on that.

Then you have to consider a mortgage. He could not get 13 or

four years ago. He is a double Olympic medals and cannot get a

mortgage? Yes. Despite the financial

pressures, it is the glory that matters most to the Barnes family.

When Paddy was asked to carry the Irish flag at the Rio open --

opening ceremony, it was the happiest moment. A very proud day

for myself. Not everyone gets to go to an opening ceremony like this. It

is a great honour. As far as I am concerned, carrying the flag is as

good as winning a medal, that is my personal opinion.

When the Games began on the 5th of August, Patrick Barnes was not there

to see his son. The Olympic Council of Ireland never offered him or his

family tickets for the event. No, I was not at the opening ceremony. If

you listen to what Patrick said when it was announced, how much of an

honour it was for him, I never got to see that. I just saw a few

pictures but since then. I have never been to any opening ceremony

or closing ceremony. As relatives of a competitor, the Barnes family

would have been eligible for what are known as national Olympic

betting tickets. These are issued to every national Olympic committee,

including the Olympic Council of Ireland, to distribute. For example,

to the families and friends of athletes and two Olympic officials,

they are not for resale. While everyone had been getting ready for

the Olympic Opening Ceremony, and Paddy Barnes was preparing to hoist

the flag of Ireland, drama was unfolding elsewhere in Rio. An Irish

businessman called Kevin Mallon was arrested here at this hotel on the

beach-front. Police have said he had with him a number of tickets for the

opening ceremony, including tickets which were part of Alan's Olympic

allocation. He was employed by a company called the Hospitality --

Hospitality Group or THG. Police believe that the company and Kevin

Mallon were involved in ticket touting, an allegation that both

deny. This is the Next hotel where Kevin Mallon hosted a cocktail

party, police believe the purpose of that party was to entertain people.

His company were not allowed to sell tickets at the Rio Olympics so

police got wind of this came and arrested him. PhD is owned by this

man, Marcus Evans. He is a multimillionaire who has made a lot

of money from selling tickets and hospitality packages to corporate

clients around the world. He is also known to many as the owner of

Ipswich town football club. -- THG. One of PhD's senior staff had been

arrested for alleged ticket touting after the World Cup in Brazil two

years ago. Police in Rio have said they have been keeping an eye on THG

because of that. -- THG. Companies like THG which wanted to

sell tickets or tickets for hospitality at the Olympics had to

be accepted by the Rio ticket authorities. We have seen some of

the information that the police has said support their case against THG

and Kevin Mallon. When Kevin Mallon was arrested he was meeting clients

who are wanting tickets and looking forward to the opening ceremony. One

Brazilian business Ben Davies document to the police after Kevin

Mallon was arrested and they show that he had spent a lot of money.

The documents, in two parts. The first is a bill for hospitality on

the day of the opening ceremony and the cost of that is about seven that

they have thousand dollars per person. The second part of the

contract Al Pointing THG as an agent to buy tickets and the cost of that

is about $1000 per head. Police allege that these documents

concealed the true charge for the tickets, hiding it in the cost of

the hospitality. In Brazil, including the cost of the tickets by

concealing it for overpriced hospitality is classed as ticket

touting. That is against the law. After Kevin Mallon's arrest, police

crack open the safe in his hotel apartment and found these. Hundreds

of tickets for the Games. Including some Irish tickets which had been

for sale for a variety of Olympic events. 40 of these, the police

claimed, were Irish tickets, those men for families of athletes and

Olympic officials and not meant for sale. This is Kevin Mallon arriving

at the Central police station. The police investigation was under way.

The question was, why did he have so many tickets when the company THG,

for which he walked and for whom he was a director, were not allowed to

sell Olympic tickets? -- worked. PhD and Kevin Mallon denied that they

were involved in selling tickets at the Olympics or in any form of

ticket touting. They have said the tickets he held were sold by those

who were authorised and he was acting as a collection point on

their behalf. They have said a full assessment cannot be achieved

without consideration of all compliance documentation relating to

the provision of hospitality packages in Rio. Pat Hickey and the

Olympic Council of Ireland had had a relationship with THG, owned by

Marcus Evans, since the London Olympics. They had worked together

at the London games in 2012 when Pat Hickey and the Olympic Council had

nominated THG to be expected agent or in the jargon, it authorised

ticket reseller, ATR. We decided we'd better go but one of the big

international companies and we searched around the globe and we

discovered that Marcus Evans' group is probably the best-known and most

professional and I have to tell you that in our dealings with them to

date, we have found that. We have great confidence in the group. At

the London Games, Pat Hickey and the Olympic Council of Ireland also

asked THG to look after the Centre for Irish Olympic hospitality, what

is known as the Irish house. We do not have the expertise ourselves to

do that, so that is why we would be looking again at the professionalism

of the Marcus Evans' group. Pat Hickey's son Stefan then went to

work for THG to run the Irish house. Pat Hickey later explained to the

press that Stefan had been headhunted for the position. His

appointment had been approved by the Executive Committee of the Olympic

Council of Ireland. This is the Irish house, this is the

Irish national house. Pat Hickey wanted THG to be the

ticket agent for Ireland for the Rio games. PhD were not wanted at the

Olympics after one of their senior staff had been arrested for alleged

ticket touting during the World Cup. -- THG. The Olympic authorities

turned down the application, so Pat Hickey export an alternative, so

agent solution. Brazilian police have released this

e-mail and they have said it shows how Pat Hickey wanted to involve THG

at Rio in 2016. In the e-mail, Pat Hickey right to Olympic officials

and asked what the instead of being a full ticket agent, it could be a

subagent instead. In a statement the International Olympic Committee said

it was perfectly in compliance with the rules for tap -- Pat Hickey

deceit and arrangement but they conformed it never concluded.

PhD was a dead end for Rio 2016 for the Olympic Council of Ireland, so

Pat Hickey and the council did something else, they turned to a

company out of them in Dublin called Ward End sports management. It was

appointed as an official reseller days after Pat Hickey had enquired

if THG could BSA. -- Pro 10 Management. It is not clear why they

were chosen, it had just been set up and had no track record of selling

tickets. When Kevin Mallon was taken to

prison, the police van hundreds of tickets in his room. Why were many

Irish which were supposed to be the responsibility of the appointed

agent? And why did he also have mock tickets? Though that were supposed

to be further my one week later after his arrest, Pat Hickey and all

the Olympic Council of Ireland were investigating. We then moved very

fast and this has been proved by our executive committee, but this time

of the Lone Ranger, I have to go to the executive committee for

permission to do things. What we've done is written to the Brazilian

authorities in Rio 2016 and we've asked them to send us all the

necessary documentation and any evidence whatsoever. Irish sports

Minister Shane Ross said he also had questions about what had happened.

He flew to Rio to meet Pat Hickey face-to-face hoping to persuade him

to put an independent person of his inquiry. But Pat Hickey on behalf of

the Olympic Council of Ireland said no. I'm stunned by the reaction.

ICOM believe they refuse to take an independent on their inquiry. When

Shane Ross returned to Ireland, a leaked e-mail revealed Pat take it

had been given legal advice before meeting the minister. It said Shane

Ross needs to be put back in his box. The Brazilian police were

continuing to ask questions about how so many Irish tickets were in

Kevin Mallon's possession. A less than a week after saying he would

investigate, too, Pat Hickey was himself arrested. This is one of the

top hotels in Rio. It really is the last word in luxury by any

standards. Nothing but the better officials like Pat Hickey. He and

others have been staying here for a of weeks be just a stone's throw

from one of the best beaches in Rio. Many Olympic officials were staying

in similar 5-star hotels along the Rio beach-front. And then police,

led by an investigator came looking for particular the 17th of August at

6am, they went to the wrong Windsor hotel. Spotlight has spoken to an

eyewitness who saw the whole thing happen. When police arrived at the

correct Windsor Hotel, they knocked on Pat Hickey's door on the eighth

floor. His wife and the third and told police that her husband was not

there. The police went to the breakfast room to look for him, no

luck. Practically's son Stefan had been in the room next door and have

left for Ireland with his family. Police found Pat Hickey there and

arrested him. After a precautionary visit to a

hospital, Pat Hickey was driven to prison on the outskirts of Rio. This

prison has a reputation for being tough as this quite prison security

team showed us when we visited. In the prison, Pat Hickey shared a

cell with Kevin Mallon. The THG director who had been arrested a

fortnight earlier. They were both now suspected of being part of the

same alleged ticket touting conspiracy. These are the cells in

which Kevin Mallon and Pat Hickey would have been held up while they

were here. I've just been able to see an aside some of them. They're

incredibly small, cramped and have very little natural daylight. Kevin

Mallon run Pat Hickey were released within a couple of days of each

other at the end of August. Both have had their passports taken from

them and face strict conditions while they await trial. We've just

spent the best part of two hours inside that prison talking to prison

guards and other authorities and it's very, very clear to me, having

done that, the seriousness with which the Brazilian authorities are

taking this alleged conspiracy. If there are questions about the police

Mars's investigation after Kevin Mallon's arrest, there were even

more after Hickey was arrested, too. In a step which will be highly

unusual in the UK and Ireland, the police began to talk publicly about

why they believed there was a case to answer. They also began to

release e-mails and documents they had apparently obtained from

practically's Fonab computers. Firstly the authorities said they

believed that the Olympic Council of Ireland's ticket agent was what they

call it a ghost company. They believed this because it was set up

so quickly after Pat Hickey's attempts to have THG appointed as a

sub agent was turned down. Pro ten have denied they were ghost

company. Like THG, they sever Kevin Mallon was holding tickets on their

behalf for collection by pro ten customers. They said it was normal

practice for authorised ticket resellers to have tickets in Rio for

collection. After practically's arrest, police in Brazil held a

number of press conference, but they displayed more of the e-mails and

documents they say they'd gathered, including more from Pat Hickey's

phone and computers. The police released selected documents, so it's

very difficult to make a full assessment of the police's

allegations. One e-mail that they released was from this man, Greg

Hardy. He used to be head of the American Olympic Committee. Now he

works for a big hospitality company. In July, Greg Hardy e-mailed Pat

Hickey and told his company had, in his words, figured out a partnership

with Marcus Evans and his team real. He said he'd been working in

particular with Kevin Mallon. Patrick replied and said, thanks for

the info, Greg, see you in Rio. But in an interview after Kevin Mallon's

arrest, Pat Hickey said he did know anything about Kevin Mallon. Have

you ever met Kevin Mallon? No. I don't know anything about him and in

fact, when I heard that he posts things like this, I thought he was

based in the UK. I subsequently read in the media that is based in the

Dublin office, but I've never met him and to my knowledge, none of the

staff have either. In the same interview, Pat Hickey said the

seller would investigate pro ten. We've started to investigate our own

ticket agent, pro-tenant management and we have a whole series of

questions to be answered there. We've sent them a list of questions

you want detailed answers to each one. Then we can assemble all the

facts. The day before Pat Hickey had said he will be investigating pro

tem, he and Marcus Evans, the boss of THG had been in e-mail contact

and we are consulting on what their protest to the Rio Olympic authority

rugby. In e-mail, Marcus Evans said see below suggest a response. I'm

getting feedback from lawyers in UK and Ireland, but do you have any

initial thoughts? It's not clear up I get to go that invitation, but

this is one of many e-mails between Pat Akin Marcus Evans after Kevin

Mallon's arrest consulted on responses to the press and the

Olympic authorities. When Pat Hickey was interviewed, he said there was

no longer any relationship between the Olympic on Schiller and THG. --

Olympic Council of Ireland. Do you have any understanding and knowledge

of how THG became involved in this? None whatsoever. And the Olympic

committee of Ireland has no association with THG? No, it is

pro-tenant management. When did the company sever their links with THG.

The games in Russia were two and a half years earlier. Practically's

marks raised questions because of an e-mail he sent to Marcus Evans, the

boss of THG. He sent it on the 3rd of August, just two days before the

opening ceremony. In the e-mail, Pat Hickey rise to Marcus Evans and

says, I can confirm that you know I do not require the open and closing

ceremony together as part of our allegation. You can use them all.

Now remember, the tickets worth of the OCI to distribute, for example,

is family and friends of athletes, and not to be be sold. The kind of

ticket I could take on Paddy Barnes's dad to the opening

ceremony. It is not clear how many tickets practically was referring to

what he meant by use them all. But remember, in an interview, Pat

Hickey had said the OCI had no relationship with THG fought two

years. Police and the prosecutor in Brazil have charged ten people,

including Pat Hickey, Kevin Mallon and Marcus Evans. The directors pro

ten and other directors of THG. While Spotlight was in Rio, the

police passed their files to the judge to decide if the case should

to trial. She decided it should. All ten people are charged denied all

charges against them. How large or think you will be before this case

is complete? I don't need my son to be running

down and begging for tickets for his family stand in Rio, London Beijing.

I do that is right. It is not right for the family and not for the boxer

or athlete. The Olympic Council of Ireland has said it will await the

conclusion of eight judge led enquire in the Republic before

commenting. Paddy Barnes has turned professional and hopes to have a

fight in Belfast before Christmas. Pat Hickey is still in a real,

living in this apartment block. He says he is completely innocent and

will vigorously defend his good name and character. He says he has

received support from thousands of people across Ireland. And he could

be here for summertime. The judge has taken his passport, he is under

curfew and asked to attend court on the 20th of each month. One thing is

certain, Pat Hickey's current circumstances are a long way from

the prestigious life he was leading before the Rio Olympics.