Chevron, the second largest US oil company, on Wednesday agreed to pay a $30m (€20m, £15m) settlement after acknowledging bribes were paid for oil it obtained under the United Nations oil-for-food programme to Iraq.

The Chevron investigation is one of the highest-profile cases to emerge from a scandal-plagued UN programme that was designed to protect the Iraqi people from the worst effects of international sanctions during the Saddam Hussein regime. Wednesday’s settlement was the largest so far to arise from the scandal.