General Electric of US has agreed to pay $23.4m to settle corruption charges under the United Nation's "oil-for-food" programme without admitting or denying that it had bribed Iraqi officials for contracts.

The move has closed a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice, which had begun amid accusations by America's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that GE was involved in a $3.6m kickback scheme with Iraqi government agencies to win contracts to supply medical equipment and water purification equipment.

According to the SEC, the bribery - said to have taken place between 2000 and 2003 - involved not just divisions of GE but also two healthcare companies it has since acquired.

These include Ionics and a British company, Nycomed Amersham. GE's European subsidiaries, Marquette-Hellige and OEC-Medical Systems, were also involved in the scheme, which is reported to have earned them altogether $18.4m.

GE's case is said to be the fourth largest among corporations charged with bribery in the UN's "oil-for-food" programme, which aimed to ease the humanitarian burden of sanctions on the Saddam Hussein regime.