CCDI probes 2 top Shanxi officials

Many high-ranking provincial government posts unfilled

Two provincial-level officials from Shanxi province have been put under investigation for suspected serious discipline and law violations, China's top disciplinary watchdog announced Thursday.

Ling Zhengce, vice-chairman of Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and

Du Shanxue, vice-governor and member of the Standing Committee of Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), are both being probed, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced on its website Thursday.

Ling and Du are the latest senior officials to be investigated from the coal-rich province.

Ling, 62, is the elder brother of Ling Jihua, vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and former director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.

More than 20 senior Shanxi officials have been investigated since April 2013, media reported. This includes Jin Daoming, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of Shanxi Provincial People's Congress and Shen Weichen, former Party chief of provincial capital Taiyuan.

Following a series of investigations or arrests targeting corrupt officials and State-owned enterprise executives, many high-ranking seats in the provincial government remain empty, which sparked fears of a power vacuum, caixin.com reported.

Yuan Chunqing, Party chief of the province, told media in March that the crackdown on corrupt Shanxi officials is an indicator of the government's anti-graft determination.

The CCDI deployed an inspection team to Shanxi in October 2013 and found loopholes in power supervision and problems in work styles.

Shanxi has concluded 1,320 investigations based on evidence found by the inspectors, punishing over 800 officials, according to the CCDI. The CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee also said it will confiscate provincial-level officials' houses which the inspectors found to be excessively grand. The officials will be rehoused appropriately.

Besides Shanxi, the CCDI on Thursday also published details of the rectifications made by another nine provinces and departments inspected in 2013. This includes the provinces of Jilin, Anhui, Hunan, Guangdong and Yunnan as well as the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Commerce, the Xinhua News Agency, and the Three Gorges Corporation.

All of them have made rectifications based on feedback given by the CCDI in February, such as investigating officials suspected of violations and eradicating undesirable work styles.

The Ministry of Commerce has given administrative punishments to two probed officials.

Eight officials with the Ministry of Land and Resources, including five at director level, one at deputy director level and two at division level, have received Party and administrative punishments.