3 senior officials dismissed in coal-rich Shanxi province

Three senior officials have been expelled from the Communist Party of China and removed from their posts in the scandal-plagued coal-rich Shanxi province, said the province's anti-graft watchdog on Wednesday.

According to the province's anti-graft watchdog the trio had been handed over to judicial departments and will face trials on criminal charges.

Zhang Xiuping, deputy Party secretary of Jinzhong city, Wang Min, head of the discipline inspection commission in Yangchuan city, and Yang Xiaobo, former deputy Party secretary of Gaoping city have been brought down by the disciplinary body for "serious violation of discipline and laws".

The three allegedly accepted bribes and misused their power. Zhang and Yang were also reported to have committed adultery, a behavior prohibited by party discipline.

Shanxi possesses China's most productive coal mines and its economic growth has benefited from the growing energy demand over the past years. In previous cases, the officials' misuse of power was linked directly to the distribution of coal resources and land development.

The shake-up in Shanxi's leadership began in February. Scores of senior officials were under investigation by the country's anti-graft watchdog for "serious violations of discipline and law", including Vice-Governor Ren Runhou and three members of the CPC Shanxi standing committee.

One-third of the top provincial decision-making body and a total of more than 30 officials in the province have been investigated for corruption since the central government launched the anti-graft campaign in late 2012.