Bribery tops the list of wrongdoings that has seen some of China's richest people arrested on criminal charges, a report showed yesterday.

Among 1,882 entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Hurun Rich List in the past 12 years, 24 have been jailed or are in custody, a Hurun report revealed yesterday.

On average, they were 40 years old when alleged illegal activities were exposed.

Eighteen are currently serving jail sentences, and two have been released after completing their terms. Four people are in custody awaiting verdicts.

Bribery was the major charge brought against them, followed by other crimes all related to the capital market, including fraud, swindling and tax evasion.

Nande Group founder Mou Qizhong and Minglun Group Chairman Zhou Yiming are serving life sentences in jail. The average term of imprisonment of the remainder of those jailed is 11 years, the report said.

The four currently in custody include the founder of furniture maker Guangming Group Feng Yongming, who was arrested in 2008 in Yichun in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province for allegedly embezzling 800 million yuan (US$121 million).

Nine of the disgraced were in property, four in infrastructure construction, and two were involved in retail and home appliances businesses.