By agreeing to pay $30 million, Chevron Corp. has reached the largest of five settlements in the government’s ongoing investigation of illegal kickbacks made to Iraq in connection with the U.N.’s oil-for-food program.

The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday said Chevron settled charges brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act without confessing to or denying allegations that kickbacks were made as part of oil purchases in 2001 and 2002. But the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said the nation’s second-largest oil company still could be prosecuted for criminal tax violations.

Chevron agreed to remit $25 million in profits and pay a $3 million civil penalty. The company also will pay the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls $2 million.

Four other companies have agreed to settle SEC corruption charges stemming from alleged kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime: oil and gas company El Paso Corp. ($7.7 million), diversified manufacturer Textron Inc. ($4.6 million), diversified industrial company Ingersoll-Rand Co. ($6.7 million), and York International Corp. ($22 million), which was purchased in 2005 by auto supplier Johnson Controls Inc.

The SEC said in its complaint that Chevron found out in 2001 that Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization was demanding surcharges, and that the San Ramon, Calif.-based company adopted a policy prohibiting payment.

The company then purchased, through intermediaries, about 78 million barrels of crude oil from Iraq under 36 contracts between April 2001 and May 2002. But these traders failed to follow the company’s prohibition against kickbacks, and Chevron’s management did not ensure compliance, the SEC said.