REFILE-Former China central bank official jailed for 16 years for graft - Caixin

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BEIJING, Dec 28 (Reuters) - A former Chinese central bank official has been sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison for taking bribes, leaking state secrets and insider trading as the ruling Communist Party tightens its grip on the financial sector.

Sun Guofeng, former head of the bank's monetary policy department, used his position to help others obtain classified and confidential information between 2002 and 2020 in return for illicit payments worth 21 million yuan ($2.96 million), Chinese media outlet Caixin reported on Thursday, citing China's top prosecutor.

Separately, between 2014 and 2015, Sun obtained inside information on the merger-and-acquisition plans of a Shanghai-listed company and made over 11 million yuan by illegally trading on that information, Caixin added.

The probe into Sun's case began in 2022 under President Xi Jinping's anti-graft drive, a campaign aimed at weeding out corrupt officials in the financial sector.

Sun was fined 13.1 million yuan, according to Caixin.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) could not be immediately reached for comment outside business hours and Reuters was unable to reach Sun for comment.

Another senior official at the central bank, Fan Yifei, was arrested in June for suspected bribery.

($1 = 7.1021 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Christina Fincher)