Ex-deputy head of China securities regulator faces graft charges

BEIJING: The former deputy head of China´s top securities regulator has been charged with taking bribes and insider trading, state media reported.

Yao Gang, a former vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), was sacked in December 2015 for “severe disciplinary violations” as part of a probe of the financial sector after a spectacular market meltdown. The term normally refers to graft. Chinese authorities launched a wave of investigations targeting the financial sector in late 2015 after a debt-fuelled stock market bubble burst that summer in a rout that wiped out trillions of dollars in market capitalisation. Prosecutors have now filed indictments against Yao, Xinhua news agency said Thursday, citing the Supreme People´s Procuratorate. Yao is accused of insider trading, taking advantage of his position and accepting a large amount of money and gifts.