KUALA LUMPUR: A pay rise proposal for two top officials in a government-linked company has been shot down by the Treasury.
According to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the decision was made “not to approve” the proposal referred to the Treasury.
The prime minister was referring to the proposed salary increase for two Tenaga Nasional Berhad top executives.
The proposal had caused an uproar among many Malaysians, especially in blogs.
It was reported that the government’s main investment wing, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, had tabled a proposal to raise the salary of TNB chief executive officer Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh by 100 per cent.
Based on TNB’s latest annual report, Che Khalib’s total remuneration last year was RM1.1 million, of which RM600,000 was his annual salary.
“The decision has been made. It is not approved,” Abdullah said after a special briefing for Barisan Nasional members of parliament on subsidy restructuring yesterday.
Asked to clarify what he meant by “not approving” the proposal, Abdullah replied: “It has been rejected.”
Apart from Che Khalib, the utility company’s chief financial officer, Datuk Izzadin Idris, was also to have received the same increase in salary under the proposal.
The proposal was made by Khazanah’s managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar.
In spite of the controversy, Khazanah has defended the proposed salary hike for top officials in the GLC.
Azman was recently quoted in a daily as saying that salaries paid to top executives of GLCs had to reflect their worth, not only in Malaysia but abroad.
After careful calculation, Azman said the higher pay was commensurate with the increasing demand for local talent abroad.
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