Huang Songyou has been removed as the vice-president of the Supreme People's Court and three lawmakers have been expelled from the National People's Congress (NPC).
The NPC Standing Committee announced its decision yesterday without saying why the 51-year-old Huang had been dismissed.
But a report posted on the website of Caijing magazine said yesterday that Huang had been linked to the corruption case of Yang Xiancai, former executive director of the Guangdong Provincial High People's Court, where Huang once worked.
The country's top legislators voted to remove Zhu Zhigang as director of the NPC budget work committee. They accepted his resignation as NPC Standing Committee member and deputy director of the NPC financial and economic affairs committee.
Zhu, 58, is suspected of violating the law, senior NPC official Kan Ke told a press conference yesterday.
Xinhua said earlier that Zhu, a former vice-finance minister, was under probe for helping close relatives buy property at discount prices.
Zhu Siyi, general manager of an energy company in Guangdong province, and Xie Bing, chairman of a food company in Sichuan province, too, were expelled from the NPC after being accused of violating the law.
An official statement said Zhu Siyi was suspected of offering bribes, and Xie was suspected of committing fraud.
The expulsions leave the NPC with four empty seats. The fourth seat has been lying vacant since the death of Luo Jianping, NPC deputy and head of People's Procuratorate of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Sept 27.