The Brazilian police are currently throwing everything relating to Pat Hickey into the public domain, including his passport, his Olympic accreditation, his airline ticket, his arrest report and a video showing his morning arrest.
One of their latest releases is an email between Hickey and the OCI legal adviser Siobhan Phelan. She offered her advice as to what should be the OCI strategy when meeting with Minister for Sport Shane Ross over the recent ticket touting scandal.
The essence of their position was that Shane Ross needs "to be put back in his box".
Here is email from Ire Olympic legal counsel to Hickey outlining plan to put sports min Shane Ross 'back in his box' pic.twitter.com/dWYhMGLNZN
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) August 17, 2016
Shane Ross was well and truly dumbfounded last week when the OCI point blank refused his suggestion that an independent figure be appointed to the OCI investigation into the ticket-touting scandal in Rio.
An Irishman named Kevin Mallon has been arrested in a Rio hotel on Friday 5th August along with a Brazilian translator called Barbara Carnieri. Police say the pair were caught 'red handed' selling tickets at an inflated value. Among the tickets they were selling were Irish allocated tickets.
Ross wanted an independent figure to sit on the inquiry in to the matter.
The ICO's answer to that is the ICO is 'not investigating itself', merely the sequence of events leading from Pro10's appointment as ticket distributor to the arrest of Kevin Mallon. Therefore, it is "inappropriate" to appoint an external figure to the inquiry.
Ross couldn't get over it and decided some megaphone diplomacy was in order.
I'm absolutely stunned by the reaction. I can't believe they will refuse an independent on their inquiry and I'm looking very closely at what steps to take next.
Ross later made this argument on Morning Ireland.
We met a situation where a body which is supported by the tax payer is now refusing to allow representatives of that tax payer to be part of its inquiry.
And I take this extremely seriously.
Pat Hickey, meanwhile, described the meeting with Ross as 'excellent'.
