Nearly 1,000 tickets from a supply belgonging to the OCI were seized by Brazilian police last week after they arrested Kevin Mallon, the finance director of THG Sports, the ATR for Ireland for London 2012 and Sochi 2014. 

According to the Irish Times, Pro10 have complained to Rio 2016 about the "illegal capture" of its tickets.

They have admitted giving the tickets to Mallon and claimed they were to be collected here from people who had brought them directly from Pro10.

"At no time did we authorise Mr Mallon to sell any tickets on our behalf nor to the best of our knowledge did he sell any tickets," Pro10 reportedly said in an email to Rio 2016. 

“He merely acted as a collection point for individuals transacting directly with ourselves."

Pro10 told the Rio 2016 organisers that “Ireland is a small business community” and its executives knew Mallon through THG’s previous work for the Football Association of Ireland, reported the Irish Times. 

THG is part of a group of companies operated by Marcus Evans, who also owns English football club Ipswich Town. 

"We knew he [Mallon] was going to Rio to look after the THG companies’ clients," they said.

"We approached [him] to take our unsold inventory to Rio and to have it available for collection for clients buying through our website or from our office in Ireland."

Pro10, a company co-owned by football agents Michael Glynn and Eamonn Collins, have claimed they have done nothing wrong.

“These [tickets] had been made available for sale through the authorised ATR process and were sold to legitimate customers of Pro10 at face value, plus the allowed ATR reseller fee,” Pro10 told the Irish Times.

“It is normal practice for ATRs to have available many tickets in Rio for collection and sale through the authorised processes at Games time.

“Many ATRs would have several thousand, rather than hundreds, of tickets at their possession at an ATR house."

"We have suffered significant commercial loss as a result of the tickets being seized by ROCOG [Rio Olympic Games organising committee] and caused Irish and European customers to be unable to buy tickets during games through the authorised process," Pro10 said in a statement.

"Pro10 is now discussing this matter with our lawyers and we wish to make no further comment on this matter which could prejudice our case."

Patrick Hickey, President of the OCI, is expected to have to appear before the Public Accounts Committee when he returns home after the Irish Government launched an investigation.

Ireland's Sports Minister Shane Ross is due to meet Hickey when he arrives here on Sunday (August 14). 

Ross has already called for an independent investigation.

"We're going to carry out a very robust inquiry into what's happening," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland today. 

"What we've got to do is to make an assessment now of whether these inquiries are adequate to satisfy the dissatisfaction of the Irish people."