Liu Shiyu, China’s former top securities regulator, turns himself in as part of corruption investigation

China’s former securities watchdog chief Liu Shiyu has become the subject of a graft probe, the country’s super anti-corruption agency said on Sunday.

Liu, who left the China Securities Regulatory Commission in a surprise reshuffle in January, was said to have turned himself in and is suspected of violating party discipline and laws, according to a terse statement issued by the National Supervisory Commission. Liu is cooperating with the investigation.

Liu, 57, currently heads the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, a Soviet-era holdover of China’s centrally planned economy that operates a network of 30,000 agricultural collectives.

Liu rose through the ranks of the state banking system, spending most of this time at the central bank. He became chairman of the Agricultural Bank of China in late 2014.

Soon after he took over at the CSRC in 2016, Liu launched a series of investigations in a bid to snare “crocodiles” – a name given to the high-powered financiers who pocketed billions by manipulating the market.