Former Olympic Council of Ireland president Pat Hickey says he intends to fight the charges laid against him in a Brazilian court in relation to alleged ticket touting during the Olympics in Rio.
In a statement on Sunday evening, Mr Hickey said he had just received formal notification from the Brazilian authorities of the charges laid against him.
“For clarity, I am not under house arrest as, like with so many things with this case, has been misreported by the media. I intend to face all the charges and to fight each and every one of them,” he said.
Mr Hickey said he was “completely innocent” of the charges and would be “vigorously defending my good name and character that I have spent my lifetime building through voluntary service for numerous sporting bodies.”
“I believe in the Brazilian judicial system and I am confident that I will be discharged of all accusations. This has been a life changing experience for me, my wife, my four children and my five grandchildren and my priority is to recover my health and see my family as soon as possible.”
Mr Hickey said he had been very heartened and humbled by the “outpouring of support, letters, texts and emails from the thousands of people in Ireland and from the international sporting world.”
On Friday night it was announced that Mr Hickey and Kevin Mallon must face trial in Brazil over their alleged role in the ticketing eting affair after a Rio de Janeiro judge accepted the charges made by a public prosecutor against them and eight others, it was announced last night.
Public prosecutor Marcos Kac charged the 10 with ticket-touting, ambush marketing, theft, tax evasion, money-laundering and criminal association.
The judge also ordered the passports of Mr Hickey and Mr Mallon be retained by the court and that Mr Hickey present himself before it every 20 days, ordered him to observe a 10pm curfew and banned him from attending any events linked to the Paralympic Games under way in Rio.
Mr Hickey’s new restrictions are the same as those a federal judge imposed on Mr Mallon as conditions for his release on August 27th after he won a writ of habeas corpus.
Mr Hickey was released three days later by a state judge who did not impose similar conditions.
The judge also said the conditions applied to the eight other people charged in the case, though none are currently in Brazil.