US President Mr Bill Clinton cut a deal on his last full day in office to disentangle himself from the fallout over his sex scandal, overshadowing inaugural celebrations for his successor, Mr George W. Bush.
In a statement, Mr Clinton admitted that he knowingly violated the law in giving testimony about his affair with former White House intern Ms Monica Lewinsky in sworn testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case three years ago.
In return, independent counsel Mr Robert Ray has concluded the Lewinsky case and dropped any plans to indict Mr Clinton on criminal perjury charges after Clinton leaves office, White House spokesman Mr Jake Siewert said.
As part of the deal, Mr Clinton accepted a five-year suspension of his license to practice law in Arkansas and paid a $25,000 fine.
The move removes a major legal cloud hanging over Mr Clinton as he leaves office after eight years, but served to remind Americans why they held him in low personal regard even while giving him high job approval ratings of about 65 per cent.
"Hopefully this will give America the chance to put this particular episode behind them and then move on", Mr Siewert said.
It was Clinton's testimony in the Jones case, in which he denied sexual relations with Lewinsky, that triggered the scandal which led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives in December 1998.
The Senate acquitted him in February 1999 but Mr Ray has been leading an investigation into whether Mr Clinton committed perjury and was said to have been considering an indictment of him after he leaves office.
In his statement, read by Mr Siewert to reporters in the White House briefing room, President Clinton tried to explain how he came to make misleading statements in the Jones case.
"I tried to walk a fine line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now recognize that I did not fully accomplish this goal and that certain of my responses to questions about Ms Lewinsky were false", he said.
"I have apologized for my conduct and I have done my best to atone for it with my family, my administration and the American people. I have paid a high price for it, which I accept because it caused so much pain to so many people. I hope my actions today will help bring closure and finality to the matters".
Mr Siewert said Mr Clinton's lawyers had been involved over the past several weeks in a discussion about a deal with Mr Ray and the Arkansas Committee on Professional Conduct, which had been considering disbarring Mr Clinton because of the statements he made in the Jones case.
The decision came as rain-soaked Washington was awash in celebrations for Mr Bush's inauguration tomorrow, and live television reports immediately dropped reports on the inauguration to pick up again on the Clinton drama.
Reuters