A top official in Yunnan province has been placed under investigation, becoming the fourth provincial-level official probed for serious violations of discipline and laws this year amid the national anti-graft campaign, according to China's top discipline watchdog.

Shen Peiping, vice-governor of Yunnan, is being investigated just one year after becoming one of the most powerful politicians in the plateau province, said the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the Party's top anti-corruption agency, in a statement on its website on Sunday.

Top officials in Yunnan declined to comment on the investigation on Sunday.