The New South Wales Police Force has announced that three individuals have been charged in relation to the ongoing investigation into corruption in the harness racing industry down under

.

A press release by the police force has explained that during the morning of Thursday, November 24 officers from 'Strike Force Tairora' executed search warrants on the residences of a trio of individuals.

The release did not reveal the identities of the targets of the warrants, but it did state that:

• A 48-year-old Leura man, who was charged with 34 counts of agent receive corrupt benefit and four counts of agent attempt receive corrupt benefit, appeared in Lithgow Local Court today, where he was granted conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on 8 December 2011
• A 45-year-old Woonona man, who was charged with eight counts of corruptly give/offer agent benefit, was granted conditional bail to appear at Wollongong Local Court on 20 December 2011
• A 24-year-old Plumpton man, who was charged with nine counts of corruptly give agent benefit and one count of corruptly offer to give agent benefit, was granted conditional bail to appear at Bankstown Local Court on 14 December 2011.

According to a report by ABC News, Harness Racing New South Wales has also issued a statement confirming premier reinsman Greg Bennett had been stood down from driving indefinitely.

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