A court on Tuesday sentenced a former government accountant to death with a two-year reprieve for embezzling 18 million yuan (2.8 million US dollars) over 10 years.

Liu Di, an accountant from a taxation bureau in Heshan District of Yiyang City in central Hunan Province, defrauded 17.2 million yuan from the bureau's bank account by manipulating 188 accounts from 2000 to 2010, according to the first instance judgement of the Yiyang Intermediate People's Court.

The money financed the gambling and luxury consumption of Liu and her boyfriend Wu Shuochao, the court said.

In addition, the court said she embezzled another 1.2 million yuan of public funds to bankroll her parents' business.

Calling the defraudation and embezzlement "massive and intentional," the verdict stated that a lesser punishment was given because she gave herself up and confessed.