By Andrew Warshaw
August 6 – In a major triumph for his employers who have long protested his innocence, Ray Whelan, the British director of FIFA’s World Cup marketing affiliate Match who has been at the centre of a ticket tout investigation in Brazil, has been freed from Rio’s notorious Bangu prison on bail.
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 has been detained since July 14 after surrendering his passport to authorities who accuse him of allegedly selling VIP World Cup tickets at inflated prices.
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.
Both Whelan and his bosses at Match insist he has done nothing wrong and that, far from touting, he was perfectly legitimately trying to resell packages that had been returned to Match at the 11th hour by a Brazilian hotel chain.
Appeal judge Marco Aurelio Mello ruled that, while the charges against Whelan were serious, holding him in custody pending a trial hearing served no purpose. He was thus freed from jail and allowed to return to the home he has in Rio.
“The judge showed that Brazil has not only the capacity to organize a FIFA World Cup but has a constitution that must be respected,” said Whelan’s lawyer, Fernando Fernandes. “The supreme court has ruled that the arrest was illegal from the first moment.”
The next step, he said, would be to obtain access to the evidence which the prosecution apparently possesses but has yet to make public.
“The defence will dedicate itself entirely to obtaining integral access to the evidence that has not been granted yet, in order that it may dismiss the accusations against Mr Whelan.”
Eleven other individuals have been arrested in the police probe and local reports said Whelan could face up to four years in jail if found to have been involved in the illegal resale of tickets or and related activities including money laundering.
But in a recent interview with INSIDEworldfootball, Match boss Jaime Byrom said Whelan’s arrest was as a result of a huge misunderstanding. “It was perfectly normal for Ray to try and find another client on our behalf,” said Byrom. “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.”
Police claimed that the gang involved had been earning more than $400,000 per game on tickets sold at up to 10 times their face value. But Byrom says the company can vouch for every one of the 83 tickets Whelan was apparently in possession of when originally arrested. Most of them, says Byrom, were in-house company tickets for family and friends.
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