Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, former chief executive of American International Group, has agreed to pay $15 million to settle charges related to an accounting scandal, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.

A complaint filed by the SEC said Greenberg and former chief financial officer Howard Smith were involved in “numerous improper accounting transactions” that inflated AIG’s reported financial results between 2000 and 2005.

Smith agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle the charges, the SEC said.

“Corporate leaders cannot avoid the truth and consequences of their companies’ performance by using improper accounting gimmicks and signing off on distorted financial reports,” said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in a statement.

Among the improper accounting transactions listed in the complaint were sham reinsurance transactions as well as dealings with a shell company to conceal multi-million dollar underwriting losses.

The company was also charged with “economically senseless” transactions aimed at inflating investment gains and the sale of tax exempt municipal bonds to improperly report capital gains.

Greenberg, 83, relinquished his post as AIG’s chief executive in 2005 amid a probe by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for accounting fraud. The following year, the SEC charged AIG with securities fraud and improper accounting. The company settled the charges by repaying $700 million plus a fine of $100 million.

Greenberg is currently chairman and chief executive of privately-held insurance and investment firm C.V. Starr, which released a statement on his behalf.

“Mr. Greenberg is pleased that after a four-and-a-half year investigation involving the review of millions of pages of documents and numerous depositions, the SEC has now concluded not to charge Mr. Greenberg with any fraud,” said C.V. Starr. “With these issues behind him, Mr. Greenberg looks forward to being able to concentrate on building for the future.”

For his part, Smith had planned to challenge the allegations in court, according to a statement issued by his attorney, Vincent Sama of Winston & Strawn LLP in New York.

“Although Mr. Smith was originally inclined to litigate this matter, resolving the SEC matter allows him to move forward with his life without the added legal costs and distraction of this lawsuit,” Sama said.

AIG was brought to the brink of collapse last year amid towering losses related to insurance products the company sold to investors with souring mortgage-backed investments.

The company has received $82 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts and is now essentially owned by the government.

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Reuters reported that he listing is likely to happen by the end of this year and the company may raise more than US$2 billion in its public offering, one of the sources said. Maxis Communications, Malaysia’s top mobile operator, has chosen Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and CIMB to advise the firm on a planned US$2 billion listing in Kuala Lumpur, two sources said today.

The move comes after Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said last month he had asked Maxis Communications Bhd to re-list on Bursa Malaysia to boost liquidity and draw in investors to Southeast Asia’s most laggard stock market so far this year.

Maxis, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and CIMB declined to comment on the IPO plans.

Maxis was de-listed by reclusive tycoon Ananda Krishnan, who controls 75 per cent of Maxis, in 2007. The rest is owned by state-owned Saudi Telecom Co Ltd

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The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges Monday against Bank of America for misleading investors about billions of dollars in bonuses paid to top executives at Merrill Lynch following its purchase of the brokerage giant.

But the SEC simultaneously announced that it would settle with the Charlotte, N.C.-based lender, who will pay a penalty of $33 million as a result.

Calling the settlement a “constructive conclusion” to the controversial subject, Bank of America neither admitted nor denied the charges. The settlement with the SEC will remain subject to court approval.

Regulators alleged that Bank of America failed to disclose plans to as much as $5.8 billion in bonuses for fiscal year 2008 in its proxy statement. Instead, Bank of America told shareholders that Merrill had agreed not to pay year-end performance bonuses, according to the SEC.

“Failing to disclose that a struggling company will pay out billions of dollars in performance bonuses obviously violates that duty and warrants the significant financial penalty imposed by today’s settlement,” Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, said in a statement.

Merrill’s decision to pay big bonuses first came to light in February, after New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accused the firm of “secretly” rewarding executives before its merger with BofA closed.

The subsequent investigation by state officials ultimately led to a string of revelations, including Merrill’s decision to move up the date of its year-end bonus payments.

Bank of America chief executive officer Ken Lewis also alleged during the investigation that federal regulators threatened to remove him and other board members if Bank of America backed out of the deal.

Congress waded into the issue shortly thereafter, as lawmakers grilled Lewis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on the matter.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said that the SEC’s charges against BofA offered a “validation” of the concerns of his fellow committee members.

The committee has been looking into what transpired after BofA agreed to buy Merrill and Issa hinted that the investigation may not be over.

“The circumstances certainly underscore the need for us to continue our investigation of the Bank of America — Merrill Lynch acquisition and the role officials at the Treasury and Federal Reserve had in pressuring the acquisition to move forward,” Issa said in a statement.

Cuomo’s office also indicated Monday that Bank of America may not be free from further scrutiny, adding that they were continuing their investigation about whether Merrill’s bonuses violated state securities laws.

Separately, Bank of America announced a shake up in some of its top management ranks Monday, including the hiring of former Citigroup  executive Sallie Krawcheck to run the bank’s global wealth management unit.

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