Deutsche Bank boss Josef Ackermann has agreed to pay €3.2 million in exchange for having charges dropped against him in the long-running Mannesmann trial.

Mr Ackermann could walk out of a Dusseldorf court a free man without a criminal record next week if, as expected, the trial judge approves the settlement deal agreed between prosecutors and defence yesterday.

Mr Ackermann, former Mannesmann chief executive Klaus Esser and other supervisory board members will pay a total of €5.8 million if the state prosecutor drops charges that they breached fiduciary trust in approving €57 million in manager bonuses after Vodafone's takeover of Mannesmann nearly seven years ago.

An end to the trial will be a huge relief to Mr Ackermann: although he received no bonus, a conviction would have ended his career as Deutsche Bank chief executive.

He surprised everyone at the start of the retrial last month by telling the court that he earned up to €20 million annually. Yesterday he stressed that his €3.2 million payment would come out of his own pocket.

The latest twist in the case came shortly after 2pm yesterday when Mr Ackermann's lawyer Klaus Volk told the Dusseldorf court: "We have a reached a point of legal satisfaction for all sides.

"We deliberately waive the possibility of an acquittal to curtail the trial out of regard for our clients."

The state prosecutor agreed to the motion and the court adjourned to examine the deal, which would give 40 per cent of the payment to charity and 60 per cent to the state, which would pay the trial costs.

The former members of the Mannesmann supervisory board have been in and out of court since Vodafone won a takeover battle for Mannesmann in 2000.

The board members defended the bonuses as payments for a job well done to managers who had substantially increased Vodafone's offer price during the takeover battle.

State prosecutors argued that the men enriched themselves with money that rightly belonged to company shareholders.

The trial soon became the centre of a debate in Germany with a widespread belief that the bonuses were an example of Anglo-American corporate greed out of keeping with German business culture.

The first trial two years ago ended in an acquittal for the men, but a German appeal court threw out the verdict and sent it back for retial.