HONG KONG, Feb 9: The Hong Kong Jockey Club said on Saturday it had suspended the licences of jockeys John Egan and Robert Fradd for one month, following one of the territory’s biggest horse-race fixing investigations in recent years.

The Jockey Club also said in a statement that four of its employees had also been suspended until further notice over the probe by Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

A suspended licence means the jockey cannot do any track work or training.

Hong Kong’s anti-corruption officers on Wednesday arrested 19 people in connection with the race-fixing investigation.

The ICAC alleged that two jockeys and four Hong Kong Jockey Club employees had accepted advantages from illegal bookmakers as rewards for supplying stable racing information and manipulating race results.

The ICAC, which declined to identify the jockeys, arrested its twentieth person on Friday as part of the race-fixing investigation and released them on bail.

The Jockey Club said in its statement that the suspension of John Egan’s licence was in addition to his current suspension from riding in races until 31 March 2002, after he was found to have breached a Jockey Club rule governing race evidence.

The Jockey Club is Hong Kong’s only legal bookmaker.—Reuters