Special: China cracks down on graft

A top official in Yunnan province has been placed under investigation, becoming the fourth provincial-level official probed for serious violations of discipline and laws this year amid the national anti-graft campaign, according to China's top discipline watchdog.

Shen Peiping, vice-governor of Yunnan, is being investigated just one year after becoming one of the most powerful politicians in the plateau province, said the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the Party's top anti-corruption agency, in a statement on its website on Sunday.

Top officials in Yunnan declined to comment on the investigation on Sunday.

Shen's case came about after an inspection team from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection was sent to Yunnan to oversee the province's administrative system. The inspection team passed along evidence to demonstrate abuses of power committed by a number of local officials.

Shen, who was born in 1962, spent eight years teaching rural children in Shidian county in Yunnan. He later became Party chief of Tengchong county in Baoshan, which neighbors northern Myanmar. He was then promoted to deputy secretary-general of the Yunnan provincial government in 2003 at the age of 41. He later became Party secretary of Pu'er, a place known for its coffee and tea production.

Shen was a deputy to the National People's Congress from 2008 to 2013, when he was the Pu'er Party chief.

In February 2013, he was promoted to vice-governor.

Shen presided over areas such as agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, poverty relief, migration, biological resources development, rural reform and major animal epidemic prevention and control, flood control and drought, forest fire prevention, and fisheries.

Yunnan has been boosting agriculture with plateau characteristics, in particular flowers, fruit and coffee.

Since December 2012, one month after the 18th Party Congress that decided the new top leadership for the country, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has launched investigations into several high-ranking officials. At least 10 provincial-level officials have been moved from their positions, according to media reports.

Last month, three high-ranking officials were disciplined for infringements, including deputy Party secretary of Shanxi province and deputy chairman of the Shanxi People's Congress Jin Daoming; deputy chairman of Shaanxi People's Political Consultative Conference Zhu Zuoli; and vice-governor of Hainan province Ji Wenlin.

Other officials accused of disciplinary violations or corruption include Li Chuncheng, former deputy Party chief of Sichuan province; Li Chongxi, former top political adviser of Sichuan; and Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

On Dec 20, Li Dongsheng, then vice-minister of public security, was investigated for corruption. Liu Yingxia, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and board chairwoman of the Harbin Xiangying Group, was stripped of her membership during a meeting on Feb 20.

On Feb 27, the National People's Congress Standing Committee dismissed two NPC deputies - Chen Anzhong, former deputy director of the standing committee of Jiangxi provincial People's Congress, and Zhu Deyi, former mayor of Jixi in Heilongjiang province. Chen was removed from his post in December for corruption.