Yao Gang, former vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, was on Friday sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking bribes and insider trading.

The former CSRC official was also fined 11 million yuan ($1.7 million), the Handan Intermediate People's Court said in a statement.

Between 2006 and 2015, Yao was found to have abused his power and received some 70 million yuan in bribes through his relatives in exchange for holding back the investigation of dodgy deals, the court said.

The property obtained from bribery and insider trading will now be turned over to the State treasury, it said.

In July 2017, Yao was dismissed from the Communist Party of China and the public office for violating Party discipline and disrupting capital market order, according to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the top anti-corruption watchdog.

Investigations about Yao's suspected violations started in late 2015 during the central authorities-led anti-corruption campaign.

Yao, who held a doctoral degree from the University of Tokyo, Japan, joined the CSRC in 1993.

A veteran of the securities industry, he has led a number of the securities regulator's key departments, including departments that regulate fixed income, future markets and the powerful listing department regulating initial public offering approvals.

From January to April 2007, Yao, who served as the director of listing department then, gained illegal profit of about 2.1 million yuan through insider trading, taking advantage of his access to confidential and nonpublic information, according to the court.