Brazilian police authorised to seize John Delaney’s passport

The fallout from the Irish Olympic ticket affair continues.

FAI chief executive John Delaney (who is also a vice-president of the Olympic Council of Ireland) is one of six people listed on a warrant issued by a Rio court over the weekend. The warrant has been issued by the same court that authorised the arrest of OCI president Pat Hickey last week as part of an investigation into the touting of Rio 2016 tickets. Brazilian police are now seeking to seize the passport of Delaney, acting OCI president William O’Brien and OCI officials Linda O’Reilly, Dermot Henihan, Kevin Kilty and Stephen Martin. According to the Irish Times their phones, computers and documents are also being sought as part of the investigation. Only Henihan, Kilty and Martin are thought to still be in Brazil.. Henihan, Kilty and Martin are due at a Rio police station on Monday morning for questioning after surrendering their passports following a raid on the OCI headquarters in the Olympic village. “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," said the OCI in a statement.

Mr Hickey is currently being held in Bangu prison, along with Dubliner Thomas Mallon, as police investigate an alleged scheme that saw the OCI use authorised ticket reseller PRO10 as a front for Mallon's THG, who are barred from doing business in Brazil following the 2014 Fifa World Cup.