WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) — Ingersoll-Rand, the maker of Thermo-King refrigerated trucks, will pay $6.7 million to settle US claims it paid kickbacks to secure contracts from Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

Subsidiaries in Germany, Italy, Ireland and Belgium paid $963,000 in bribes to win business during the United Nations' Oil-for-Food program between 2000 and 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement.

In one case, Iraqi officials were given a holiday in Florence, Italy, that included $8,000 in "pocket money," the agency said.

"Ingersoll-Rand knew or was reckless in not knowing that illicit payments were either offered or paid" under the Iraqi contracts, the SEC said.

The company will pay a $2.5 million fine to the Justice Department to avoid criminal prosecution and $4.2 million to settle the SEC's civil claims.

The case stems from a 2005 United Nations report listing 2,253 companies that made almost $1.8 billion in illegal payments during the humanitarian program. Hussein's regime, which retained the right to award contracts, skimmed more than $17 billion through smuggling and graft, according to a 2005 inquiry by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. Hussein was hanged in December for crimes against humanity.

Bermuda-based Ingersoll-Rand didn't admit or deny wrongdoing in settling the SEC's complaint.

"The company takes this matter, and all compliance matters, very seriously," Ingersoll-Rand said in a statement. The company said it terminated employees involved, conducted an internal probe and cooperated with the government's inquiry.