The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Thursday announced a revised regulation on discipline inspections.

The rules increase the scope of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) to include heads of leading Party members' groups of higher people's courts and provincial-level procuratorates, leading officials of ministries and key state-owned enterprises and financial firms.

In the previous version, the inspections by the CCDI concentrated on leading officials in provincial governments, CPC's provincial-level committees, provincial political advisory bodies and provincial legislature.

The new rules were adopted at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in late June. They are the first changes since the regulation was introduced in 2009.

The new regulation says inspections will be focus on political rules , Party policies and cliques.

Bribery, trading power for personal gain, electoral fraud, buying and selling official posts, and degenerate behavior are also on the radar.

Discipline inspection has intensified and has become a major tool to govern the Party in recent years.

Officials probed and punished by the CCDI include Wan Qingliang, former Party chief of Guangzhou City in Guangdong Province and Wu Changshun, former vice chairman of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2015)