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Former Irish high court judge appointed to head inquiry into Olympic ticket touting

Xinhua, August 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Former Irish high court judge Carroll Moran has been appointed to head the inquiry into the alleged Olympic ticket touting, a cabinet minister announced on Wednesday.

"We are pleased to announce that we have today appointed a former high court judge, Mr Justice Carroll Moran to investigate the circumstances surrounding the distribution of tickets for the Rio Olympics and related matters," Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross said.

"The terms of reference are being circulated and the judge is due to take up his position immediately," Ross said.

Last week, he announced to set up a non-statutory inquiry into the ticket touting, saying that a retired judge-led non-statutory inquiry is "the most appropriate mechanism to establish the facts".

Under the terms of reference, the inquiry will establish the policies, procedures, processes and practices relevant to the receipt, distribution and sale of tickets allocated by the International Olympic Committee to National Olympic Committees as well as accreditations given by national Olympic committees.

It will also examine the policies, procedures, processes and practices adopted by the OCI governing the receipt, distribution and sale of tickets allocated by the International Olympic Committee to it for the summer and winter Olympic Games as well as procedures related to allocating accreditation for the Games.

The inquiry will look into these procedures for this year's Summer Games in Rio, the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the 2012 games in London and any previous games into which Judge Moran wishes to examine.

The inquiry will be completed within 12 weeks, according to the Irish minister.

Last week, the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) said it will "cooperate fully with any state inquiry into its handling of ticketing arrangements for the Rio Olympics".

Two ticket agencies, Britain's THG Sports and Ireland's Pro10 Sports Management, said they will also cooperate fully with an inquiry into the sale of Olympic tickets in Rio.

THG is owned by Marcus Evans Group, which also controls English football club Ipswich Town. In 2010, the Olympic Council of Ireland appointed THG as its official ticketing agent for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

THG did not have a permit to sell Irish Olympic tickets for the Rio Games, while Pro10 was an authorized Irish ticket reseller.

The ticket scandal started when an Irish man called Kevin Mallon, who works for THG Sports, was arrested as the Rio Games began. He was found in possession of around 800 tickets for high-profile sporting events as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. He was accused by Brazilian police of selling the tickets at above face value.

All national Olympic Committees get an allocation of tickets to sell with hospitality through an authorized reseller. Mallon was arrested with some of these tickets from the OCI. Endit