A German court will be asked to approve a €5.8 million (£3.9 million) out of court settlement in the long-running Mannesmann trial next Wednesday.
State prosecutors and the Mannesmann Six’s defence counsel have agreed the terms of the deal, but it is yet to be ratified by the Dusseldorf regional court.
As part of the agreement, the six defendants will pay €5.8 million to charity on order to escape prosecution. Josef Ackermann, the Deutsche Bank chief executive who is among the defendants, will pay the most, €2.3 million, given he is paid the highest salary.
However, this is unlikely to make a huge dent in his finances given he was paid just under €12 million last year.
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“The defence counsel and the public prosecutor believe the most appropriate decision is to end the trial proceedings now, subject to some monetary obligations,” a Deutsche Bank spokesman said. “This would be associated with the establishment of no guilt.”
Other defendants include Klaus Esser, the former Mannesmann chairman, Joachim Funk, the company’s former supervisory board chief, Klaus Zwickel, the former head of the IG Metall union and two others - Jürgen Ladberg and Dietmar Drost.
They have all denied the breach of trust charges against them.
They are accused of breaking the law by approving a €57 million euros in payouts to former Mannesmann executives during Vodafone’s 2000 takeover of Mannesmann.
The proceedings have been running for nearly seven years.