Deputy mayor of Kunming, Xie Xinsong, investigated for corruption

The deputy mayor of Kunming, Xie Xinsong, who once worked under disgraced Yunnan deputy party chief Qiu He, is being investigated by the province's anti-graft agency.

Xie, 44, who is also Kunming's standing committee member of the Communist Party, was suspected of "serious violations of law and party discipline" - a euphemism for corruption, the Yunnan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection said on its website on Wednesday.

The news comes three days after graft-busters announced that Qiu was being questioned.

Xie was the deputy secretary-general of the party committee in Suqian, Zhejiang province, when Qiu was the city's party chief. Xie was transferred to Kunming in 2008 and became the secretary-general of the party committee, soon after Qiu left Jiangsu and became Kunming's party chief.

Meanwhile, Liu Weigao, the chairman of Zhonghao Commercial Group, who reportedly had close ties with Qiu, resigned from the company on Tuesday, mainland media outlet Caixin reported.

The report cited sources as saying that Liu had been under investigation since the end of last year for suspected fraud in fund-raising. As a delegate to the National People's Congress, Liu did not attend this year's parliamentary sessions, which ended last week.