THE British boss of the official World Cup hospitality firm fled his hotel room yesterday to escape arrest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian police said.
Ray Whelan reportedly fled from the Copacabana Palace hotel yesterday [REUTERS/AP]Ray Whelan, 64, head of Match Hospitality, is officially considered a fugitive from justice after he left the £400 a night Copacabana Palace hotel through a service exit an hour before police arrived to re-arrest him.
Police chief Fabio Barucke said: "He's now considered a fugitive.
"We have security camera images of him exiting the hotel through a service door."
Brazilian police have accused Mr Whelan and 11 others of being involved in a 'scalping' scheme to sell on VIP tickets to World cup events worth up to £60 million.
Mr Barucke said police had recorded 900 calls between Mr Whelan and Algerian ticket broker Lamine Fofana since the World Cup began, and that all of them referred to selling tickets.
"Raymond knew that Fofana was a scalper, he knew that he was going to resell those tickets on the black market," Mr Barucke said.
We have security camera images of him exiting the hotel through a service door
He added that police would investigate whether football officials were also implicated.
Mr Whelan was detained on Monday at his hotel and was released after questioning.
He was reported to have surrendered his passport.
Switzerland-based Match Hospitality denied any wrongdoing on Mr Whelan's part and said he would co-operate with police.
The Match group, which owns the rights to sell World Cup hospitality packages, acknowledged in a statement that Mr Whelan discussed $25,000 worth of tickets with Mr Fofana, who is among the 12 people arrested by police.
However, it stated that the sales referred to VIP packages, not only tickets, hence the high price.
Match added: "The 24 hospitality packages were offered on cash basis, which is highly unusual but permitted under the various terms and conditions.
"It must be noted that Mr Whelan was not aware of the fact that Match Hospitality had internally blocked sales to Mr Fofana."
Fifa said it would continue "to fully collaborate with the local authorities and will provide any details requested".
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