A World Cup hospitality company says its director did not flee a Brazilian hotel when police came to arrest him over alleged illegal ticket sales.
Fifa partner company Match said it disagreed with a police statement describing Ray Whelan, who is British, as a “fugitive from justice”.
An international gang is said to have earned about $90m (£52m) per tournament and may have acted at four World Cups.
Mr Whelan, who denies wrongdoing, was indicted on Thursday with 11 others.
He had been briefly arrested on Monday but was released after questioning.
Then on Thursday, police said they went to Mr Whelan’s room in Rio’s luxury Copacabana Palace hotel but he was no longer there and they were told he had left an hour earlier.
Police chief Fabio Barucke said security camera images showed him leaving the hotel through a service door.
