(FILE)

Zhang Jingli, Deputy Director of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), had been sacked and put under investigation for suspected disciplinary violations, said sources with the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Zhang, 55, became deputy director of SFDA in 2003. He is the highest-ranking SFDA official to be investigated for corruption since 2007 when Zheng Xiaoyu, former chief of the drug safety watchdog, was executed after being convicted of taking 6.49 million yuan ($954,412) in bribes and dereliction of duty.

Beijing-based business weekly, The Economic Observer, said Zhang was found to have engaged in bribery involving pharmaceutical firms including the Shanghai branch of Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson declined to comment.

Only months ago, five of Zhang's former colleagues and subordinates at the SFDA were arrested on graft charges.