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Chinese president Xi Jinping's anticorruption dragnet has scooped up tens of thousands of officials.

One of them is Qu Zhang Mingjie, a former senior bureaucrat in the northern Chinese city of Harbin.

Today, the South China Morning Post reported that prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Qu, whose daughter Wanting is a Vancouver singer-songwriter and the girlfriend of Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson.

Quoting the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the newspaper noted that Qu has been accused of embezzling the equivalent of $69 million in a real-estate scam.

The defence has denied the allegations.

Wanting's newest single, "Your Girl", is dedicated to her mom and was released on July 22.

Video of Wanting 曲婉婷 - Your Girl 婷儿 (Audio)

According to Amnesty International, the Chinese government increased the number of crimes punishable by death to 55 from 46 in November 2014.

China doesn't reveal the number of people executed; Amnesty International calls it the world leader.

"Based on our own monitoring, we believe that thousands of executions continue to be carried out in China," Amenesty death penalty expert Chaira Sangiorgio told CNN earlier this year.