Sept 6 (Reuters) - A former top Chinese securities

regulator, Yi Huiman, has been put under investigation over

suspected violations of law, China's anti-corruption watchdog

said on Saturday.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a

brief statement on its website that Yi was being investigated

and "suspected of serious violations of discipline and law".

The statement gave no further details.

Yi, 60, was taken away by authorities last week for an

investigation, Reuters reported on Friday, citing people with

knowledge of the matter.

He could not be reached for comment.

Chinese authorities have intensified efforts to crack down

on corruption in recent years with probes of several

high-ranking officials, including senior Chinese admiral Miao

Hua.

Yi, a veteran of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

 , which he joined as a junior loan officer in 1985,

helmed the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which

is under the administration of China's State Council, from

January 2019 to February 2024.

He was unexpectedly ousted last year amid a selloff in

domestic stock markets that pushed the benchmark index to a

five-year low. He was replaced by the current head, Wu Qing.

Since then, Yi has been a deputy director of the economic

committee of China's top political advisory body.

Before joining ICBC, he spent six months working at the

Hangzhou city bureau of the Chinese central bank.

Yi attended two meetings of the Chinese People's Political

Consultative Conference on July 29, according to the

conference's website, his last known public appearances.

He is not the first former senior regulatory commission

official to face investigation in recent years. In April,

authorities launched a corruption probe into former Vice

Chairman Wang Jianjun, who was removed from the post the

following month.

Last November, another senior official, Wu Guofang, was also

placed under investigation on similar suspicions.