China has sentenced to death the former president of a firm connected with the country's number-two oilfield for taking bribes and embezzling nearly 37 million yuan ($4.62 million), a newspaper said on Monday.

Li Rongxing used his job at Sinopec unit Shengli Oilfield Daming Group to siphon off the cash between April 1994 and December 2003, the Beijing News reported.

The money came from a range of schemes, including inflating property prices. Li also accepted some 4.83 million yuan in gifts, ranging from cash to high-tech music systems, the report added.

The sentence handed down by the Taian city people's intermediate court stripped Li of his political rights but suspended the execution for two years. Suspended death sentences in China are traditionally commuted to life imprisonment.

Chinese leaders have said the government faces self-destruction if it fails to curb graft and has launched a series of campaigns to crack down on corrupt officials.