Ex-China central bank deputy head arrested for suspected bribery

BEIJING (Reuters) -A former deputy governor of China's central bank, Fan Yifei, has been arrested for suspected bribery, China’s top prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Fan, 59, is the highest-ranking official at the People's Bank of China to be arrested under President Xi Jinping's anti-graft drive in the past decade, in a campaign aimed at weeding out corrupt officials in the financial sector.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate said in its statement it would prosecute Fan and the case was under further investigation.

Reuters was not able to contact Fan for comment.

Fan was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from his post this month for serious violations of discipline and the law, state media reported.

The top anti-corruption watchdog said he had taken advantage of his position to make profits for others in loan financing and illegally accepting property, state media said.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Ellen Zhang; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Robert Birsel)