French bank, Societe Generale reported lower first-quarter profit after the charges by which it settled a Gaddafi-era lawsuit with the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) worth 963 million euros, according to Bloomberg.

"The French bank and LIA reached a deal to resolve “all matters between both parties” related to five transactions between 2007 and 2009 (worth 2.1 billion dollars), SocGen said in a statement on Thursday.

 The court case, following allegations of corruption and bribery, was scheduled to start in London today, after delaying it twice." Bloomberg reported the bank as saying.

The bank also reported its income as falling to 747 million euros from 924 million euros a year earlier, apologizing for the LIA, saying it regrets the “lack of caution” of some of its employees.

"The deal allows the French lender’s executives to avoid testifying in court about payments that are part of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into whether banks, hedge funds and private equity firms violated anti-bribery laws in Libya." Bloomberg reported.

Moreover, three senior executives were granted permission to testify behind closed doors.

LIA lost a similar case last October to regain 1.2 billion dollars from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in a case related to Haithem Zarti, the brother of Mustafa Zarti, the former vice president of the LIA, who had a training course in the American bank.