[3] A Brazilian judge remanded him in custody after concluding Hickey was a flight risk, and citing previous experience of then THG CEO James Sinton being investigated in relation to a 2014 FIFA World Cup ticket scam, being granted bail, leaving Brazil and never returning to face justice.
Meanwhile, former Irish sports minister Leo Varadkar revealed Hickey tried to get financial assistance from Ireland's government for his son's corporate hospitality venue at London's 2012 Summer Olympics.
[9] Hickey was due to face trial in Brazil over his alleged role in the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) ticketing affair after a Rio de Janeiro judge accepted the charges made by a public prosecutor against him and nine others.
Public prosecutor Marcos Kac charged Hickey and nine others with ticket-touting, ambush marketing, theft, tax evasion, money-laundering, and criminal association.
[11] But in November 2017, the Brazilian Supreme Court suspended the case against Hickey and the other accused, all of whom deny any wrongdoing, in order to examine the merits of the prosecution case and of the Habeas Corpus request by lawyers for one of his co-accused, Kevin Mallon of THG Sports, after the lawyers had argued that they could not mount a proper defence as the prosecution had presented no evidence, and "nor was there clarity on his alleged involvement in any crime".
[14] Before Hickey's arrest, Irish Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross promised a "robust inquiry" of his own, after expressing concern at the lack of an independent investigation.
[19] Brazilian police were also given permission to seize a sixth passport, that of Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief executive John Delaney, who is also OCI vice-president and was a prominent figure in Irish sport.
[18][20] A non-statutory inquiry headed by retired High Court judge, Mr Justice Carroll Moran, to investigate the issue was announced on 24 August.