The brother-in-law of Ling Jihua， the disgraced former chief of staff of former president Hu Jintao， has been removed from his post as a vice-mayor in Shanxi province.

Wang Jiankang， 60， one of five deputy mayors of Yuncheng in Shanxi， was removed from office on Tuesday after a municipal legislative meeting voted through the decision， according to the citys official news website.

Wangs removal came after he was taken away as part of a corruption investigation for a second time in July. He disappeared from the publics sight for about 20 days until his name was mentioned again in a local newspaper at the end of the month.

A report by online portal NetEase said the investigation could be related to the alleged misuse of a 100 million yuan （HK$126 million） provincial fund， but added it was not confirmed whether he was assisting the investigation or was the target.

The first time he was taken into custody as part of a graft probe was last summer， after it was announced that his other brother-in-law， Ling Zhengce – the elder brother of Ling Jihua – was being investigated. He was detained for more than 50 days and released in late August.

Ling Jihua， once a rising star within the Communist Party， was expelled in July and would be criminally prosecuted on corruption charges， the authorities said at the time.