China is stepping up its anti-corruption purge, ensnaring top executives at three multibillion dollar state-owned enterprises this week alone.

The detentions of the heads of three industry giants — in banking, aviation and carmaking — belie expectations in some quarters that President Xi Jinping was ready to wind up his signature campaign, which has weeded out hundreds of officials and scythed demand for everything from cognac to golf.

Instead, in the week that saw China unveil its five-year plan, Mr Xi’s campaign moved up a notch. The second-in-command at Agricultural Bank of China was detained on Monday, followed later in the week by the president of Dongfeng Motor Corporation and chairman of Asia’s largest carrier, China Southern Airlines. They are the latest among hundreds of company executives and officials to be rounded up after probes into tens of thousands of people.