Rio public prosecutor Marcus Kac has passed charges against the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) President and compatriot Kevin Mallon, the director of THG Sports, one of two agencies at the centre of the controversy over allegations of illegal ticket sales at Rio 2016.

A judge will now decide whether to accept or reject the charges, which include supply of tickets for the purpose of touting, false advertising, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.

Should a judge decide to reject them, the case will be dropped and both Hickey and Mallon will be free to leave Brazil.

A police official said Hickey is declining to answer police questions, while the Irishman did not comment upon leaving a Rio de Janeiro station.

Also charged are several THG employees, including its owner Marcus Evans, as well as the three directors of Pro10 Sports Management, the Dublin-based company that was the OCI's authorised ticket reseller (ATR) for Rio 2016.

If the judge decides to accept charges against the accused, their legal defence teams will be provided 10 days in which to present a preliminary, or technical, defence.

Following this, a court case would be scheduled.

"The next step is the court now has to accept the indictments," said Kac. 

"There is no deadline for this but I expect it will happen in days and within a month I expect there will be a hearing."

Speaking to RTÉ News, Kac stated the judicial process could take as long as two years before it came to court.

He said it was very possible the passports of Hickey and Mallon would be given back to them, on the expectation they would return to Brazil when the case reached court.

In a statement responding to the charges, Pro10 said: "As we have stated numerous times, Pro10 have at all times acted properly and fully in line with the ATR guidelines.  

"We will vigorously defend our reputation and we will fully challenge the very basis of these charges.

"All tickets sold by Pro10 as the Irish ATR for the Rio 2016 Olympics were sold fully in line with the ATR guidelines.  

"These tickets were 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."

Mallon met with civil police investigators yesterday evening in Rio having been released from Bangu Prison on bail late last month following a Supreme Court ruling in Brasília.

He was sharing a cell with Hickey, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board member and European Olympic Committees (EOC) President, who was released from Bangu last Tuesday (August 30) and denies any wrongdoing.

Hickey, 71, is due to meet police in Rio this evening.

Although THG were the ATR for London 2012 and Sochi 2014, they were not selected for Rio 2016 and so had no rights to sell tickets.

It is alleged by Brazilian police, however, that Pro10, who were selected, were just a front operation to conceal THG's involvement.