Chengdu sweeps out 51 officials, state firm heads

Dozens of government officials and heads of state-owned enterprises in Sichuan's capital city of Chengdu have been reassigned or removed from their posts, including people with alleged ties to disgraced former deputy provincial party chief Li Chuncheng and the judge who presided over the trial of Wang Lijun.

The change affects 51 cadres and was announced on the official website of the city's organisation department late on Tuesday. No reasons were given for the decisions.

Among those removed from their posts were Zhang Jun, former chairman of the state-owned Chengdu Construction Engineering Corporation, and Tan Jianming, chairman of Chengdu Xingrong, a tap water provider involved in the region's environmental protection projects.

Both were detained earlier this year, allegedly in connection with Li's corruption case, according to earlier mainland media reports.

Purges started in December when the 56-year-old Li was detained for "serious violations of laws".

Months later, Guo Yongxiang, a former deputy governor and the chairman of the province's branch of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a national non-governmental organisation, was also taken into custody.

The scale of the action is unusual, as the downfall of a high-level official traditionally does not affect his or her followers, according to political scientist Zhang Ming at Renmin University of China.