BEIJING • The former vice-president of China's highest court was jailed yesterday for taking more than US$16 million (S$22.7 million) in bribes, the most senior judicial official ever convicted in a high-profile anti-graft drive.

Xi Xiaoming, 62, was found guilty of taking the bribes in exchange for "assisting individuals and organisations with their cases and companies with their entry into the market", according to a statement on the website of the Secondary Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin. The statement did not provide further details.

Xi, who first joined the Supreme People's Court in 1982, committed the offences over two decades starting from 1996, the statement said.

In May 2015, Xi was tapped to lead a newly created research group focusing on China's civil code. An investigation into his bribery began two months later.

President Xi Jinping launched an anti-graft drive after coming to power in 2012.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE