An official in charge of poverty alleviation in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is being investigated for suspected "severe violation of discipline," said the top anti-graft body on Wednesday.

The official is Zhao Guoming, head of Xinjiang's poverty alleviation office, said the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), citing local graft busters in Xinjiang.

Xinjiang has 27 designated "impoverished counties," which receive funding from national poverty alleviation programs each year.