By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
July 22 – The boss of the FIFA affiliate at the heart of the ongoing World Cup ticket tout investigation in Brazil has made an impassioned plea to the authorities to release its director caught up in the probe, insisting he has done nothing wrong and is simply the victim of a huge misunderstanding.
Ray Whelan, executive consultant of Match Services – a subsidiary of the company that provides tickets, hospitality and accommodation services for FIFA – was arrested, released, then re-arrested and is now being held in custody at the notorious Bangu Prison in Rio de Janeiro.
Last week, Match issued a series of statements defending 64-year-old Whelan, who lives for much of the year at a property his family owns in Brazil. But Jaime Byrom – one of the founders of English-based Byrom plc which owns Match – has now given a series of frank and detailed interviews, including to INSIDEworldfootball, to personally put the record straight and stress that Whelan, his brother-in-law, is the innocent party in a probe dubbed Operation Jules Rimet and which has so far reportedly snared 12 individuals.
“Ray is not well and is in a bad place,” said Byrom, Match’s Mexican executive chairman. “He is luckily in a cell on his own but is very upset. He knows the impact this is having.”
Brazilian authorities have released taped recordings to a national television station of Whelan discussing expensive hospitality packages with a French-Algerian, Lamine Fofana, alleged to be the leader of the ticket touting ring.
Byrom does not dispute the fact that the conversation took place but said Whelan, who has done business with Fofana for many years, had no idea that Fofana or his company had recently been blocked by Match Hospitality from purchasing packages.
Byrom says Whelan was legitimately trying to re-sell a batch of around 30 Rio-specific hospitality packages at a total cost of about $700,000 to other customers after they had been returned by a leading Brazilian hotel chain just days before the start of the World Cup.
“There was nothing inappropriate about the conversation Ray was having with Fofana,” said Byrom who frequently uses Whelan, a familiar figure at trade shows and the like, as a spokesperson for the company. “They knew each other and Ray was offering precisely the Match business seats we were left with. It was perfectly normal for him to try and find another client on our behalf. Television viewers for some reason thought he was trying to sell a ticket whereas in fact he was trying to sell a package at the published price, all perfectly above board.”
Byrom says the company can vouch for every one of the 83 tickets Whelan was apparently in possession of when originally arrested – if only the authorities would listen. It is understood that so far, those leading the investigation have refused to meet with Match officials to hear their side of the story.
“Most of the tickets they took from Ray were put aside for our own use at Match – paid for by the company for our family and extended family,” said Byrom. “It’s extraordinary that they have never confirmed who the tickets they took were for. We can link every one of them to seats we were entitled to.”
Commenting on speculation that Brazilian police were deliberately trying to link their operation with someone at FIFA, or its affiliate partners, to create a sensation, Byrom was at pains not to jeopardise Whelan’s position.
“We want to help the police operation, not obstruct it,” he said. “I understand of course that when they released the conversation Ray had with Fofana, they genuinely thought it would incriminate Ray. Our position is that there is a genuine misunderstanding.”
Byrom denies his series of London media interviews were a trouble-shooting exercise designed to give Match the moral high ground. “I would not be here were it not for the fact that Ray is a friend and my brother in law,” he countered. “The fact is we have applied for bail on more than one occasion because Ray is not a threat to anybody. We need him released and we are trying to follow every process available to get him out of jail and go home.”
Byrom is planning to return to Rio tomorrow to try and get the message across. “We want to assist the investigation in any way we can in terms of any tickets that have been found in the hands of ticket touts. But as far as Ray is concerned, there is nothing illegal in what he was doing. He doesn’t deserve what’s happening to him.”
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