Company at centre of Olympic ticketing scandal accuse Brazilian authorities of acting ‘through the media’

The company at the centre of the Irish Olympic ticketing scandal have hit out at the Brazilian police for dealing with “extremely serious allegations through the media”.

Arrest warrants have been issued for three of the directors of PRO 10’s parent company Kmepro Limited on a day of drama in Rio de Janeiro.

Michael Glynn, Ken Murray and Eamonn Collins are being sought by the Rio police fraud squad investigation, which has seen Irish and European Olympic Council chief Pat Hickey formally charged with ticket-touting, forming a cartel and illicit marketing.

Hickey, who was arrested at 6am Wednesday morning, faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Rio police claim #PatHickey and Ipswich Town owner Marcus Evans have been in contact this week https://t.co/ejds6yQ2hg

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 17, 2016

PRO 1o Sports Management, the Olympic Council of Ireland’s official ticket reseller, have released a statement in which they describe as “utterly untrue and completely without any foundation” allegations that tickets meant for the friends and family of Irish athletes were being sold by PRO 10.

They deny “touting” or “scalping” in a hard-hitting statement, which can be read below.

“In light of reports within the media of allegations made against PRO10 in its dealings as Irish ATR, we would like to again clarify that PRO10 has at all times acted properly and fully in line with ATR guidelines. 

“The allegation that a portion of the OCI’s Family and Friends tickets were being made available by PRO10 for general sale is utterly untrue and completely without any foundation. 

“PRO10 is appalled that allegations are being made against the company without any attempt to ascertain the facts. 

“The Brazilian authorities seem to be dealing with these extremely serious allegations through the media and no contact has been made with PRO10. 

“Notwithstanding, PRO10 utterly rejects any insinuation that they have been involved in selling tickets at inflated prices, ticket “touting” or “scalping”.  We abhor such practices. 

“We will vigourously (sic) defend our reputation and will contest fully any of these unsubstantiated and false allegations.  We are already taking legal advice on how we deal with these unfounded allegations. 

“PRO10 has acted with integrity and has been dragged into an issue in relation to ticketing simply because of its status as ATR.

“All tickets sold by PRO10 as the Irish ATR for the Rio 2016 Olympics were sold fully in line with the ATR guidelines.  These tickets were made available for sale through the authorised ATR process and were sold to legitimate customers of PRO10 at face value plus the allowed ATR reseller fee.”

On the latest episode of the GAA Hour Hurling Show Wooly and the lads reflect on a monumental weekend of action. Listen below or subscribe here on iTunes