China's efforts to overhaul the country's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) intensified in 2015, with 64 officials from different SOEs investigated for various graft and corruption related concerns, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.

By the end of November last year, the country's anti-graft watchdog, the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), had placed 64 officials under investigation as part of the government's efforts to cleanse SOEs of corrupt officials and bring these enterprises back to their shining glories.

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About 56 percent of the investigated SOE officials were top leaders of the centrally-administered SOEs, according to the CCDI in a statement issued on Monday.

The executives placed under investigation were mostly from SOEs in machine manufacturing, transportation, communication, and energy.

The CCDI stressed that the investigations involved abuse of power in exchange for illegal profit, undesirable work and lifestyles, as well as personnel selection and promotion.

The investigation also discovered that one of the outstanding problems with China's SOEs is the weakened Party leadership over those firms, the CCDI said in a statement.

The investigation, which started in 2013, had covered all of China's 55 centrally-administered enterprises.

Among the high-profile investigation involved the former general manager of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, Wang Tianpu.

Anti-graft investigators found Wang guilty of taking bribes and offering benefits in exchange for his own promotion. He also reportedly embezzled public assets.

In December, a senior Chinese official announced that China will launch pilot reforms for SOEs, including executive hiring policy and ownership.

The official revealed that the pilot SOE reforms in 2016 will involve information disclosure, merges and acquisitions, investments, professional managers, and functions and powers of directors.

TagsChina SOEs, China Enterprises, China Investigation, China Graft Investigation