Will the Patrick Hickey affair shake the walls of the IOC? While the Irish leader is still placed under house arrest in Rio de Janeiro, the name of Thomas Bach (our photo, with Patrick Hickey) is now insistently cited in the Brazilian police investigation into ticket trafficking at the Olympic Games. 2016. The Rio police announced on Thursday, September 8, that they wanted to hear the president of the IOC as a “witness” to advance their investigations.
Ronaldo Oliveira, the head of Rio's civil police, explained very clearly during a press conference: "We want to hear Thomas Bach as a witness, because he has been cited in emails and we want to clarify some doubts . »
What exactly are we criticizing the IOC President for? At this stage of the investigation, nothing very reprehensible. Brazilian police officers got their hands, during their investigation, on electronic messages sent by Patrick Hickey to Thomas Bach in July 2015. In one of them, the Irishman requested more tickets for the Rio Games than the quota initially allocated by the IOC to its national Olympic committee.
According to Ricardo Barboza de Souza, the fraud commissioner in Rio de Janeiro, Patrick Hickey explained to Thomas Bach in his electronic correspondence that he had obtained more places for the London Games in 2012. For Rio 2016, he requested a new contingent of tickets for some of the most coveted sessions, including the opening and closing ceremonies, the basketball and football finals, and the 100m final in athletics. In total, his request was for a thousand additional places.
According to Brazilian investigators, Thomas Bach did not respond to the email sent by Patrick Hickey in July 2015. “But we know that Mr. Hickey obtained 296 additional tickets for the Rio Olympics,” assured Ricardo Barboza de Souza. This is why we want to hear from the IOC President. »
This exchange of emails, published by the website of the Brazilian media The Globe, was found by investigators on the hard drive of the computer of Martin Burke, the sports director of the Irish Olympic committee. A new character in the case immediately placed on the list of suspects.
The only problem, but a major one: Thomas Bach is not in Rio de Janeiro. He did not attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on Wednesday September 7, a first for an IOC president in 32 years. The same day he was at the funeral of former German President Walter Scheel, who died the previous month at the age of 97.
At this stage of history, it is not certain that Thomas Bach will go to the Paralympic Games before the curtain falls on Sunday September 18. The IOC press service clarified that it was not planning to travel to Brazil “for the moment”.
“If he enters Brazil, we will summon him to testify, but that does not put him in a suspect position,” Commissioner Aloyso Falcao clarified Thursday, September 8. Perfidious, the Brazilian added: “The Rio 2016 organizing committee has always collaborated, and a lot, in the investigation, unlike the IOC. »
