Finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem says he is sorry he was unable to honour his wish not to hand over severance pay to former NS chief Timo Huges, broadcaster Nos says on Thursday.

Huges, who was forced out of the company after it emerged he lied about a corrupt tender process in Limburg, reached a settlement with the NS on Thursday.

The NS has agreed to pay Huges €175,000 – equivalent to six months’ salary, Dutch media report.

Dijsselbloem said in a statement he is convinced the settlement is the best solution for the situation. Huges had threatened the state-owned railway firm with legal action following his dismissal.

The government’s lawyer had said Huges was in a strong legal position and could have ended up with compensation as well as six-months salary if the issue ended up in court.

The chain of events around Huges’ dismissal had ‘gone wrong’, Dijsselbloem said

The minister himself had been convinced Huges had resigned on June 5 and therefore had no right to compensation. However, this was not the case, and Huges was not officially sacked by the supervisory board until July 10.