A former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Razi-ur-Rehman Khan, is said to have earned millions of rupees, along with other two Commissioners (one deceased), in the name of performance bonuses.
Official documents available with Business Recorder show that the other two Commissioners, who were given financial benefits, were Salman Ali Shaikh and (late) Rashid I Mallik. The issue of bonuses was placed before the Board in its meeting on January 13, 2009.
The Board considered the SECP Chairman's Memorandum No 2/2009 on the subject, wherein it was stated that the Commissioners including the Chairman were entitled to guaranteed performance bonuses as per provisions of the Commission's HR Hand Book.
In 2007, two Commissioners (excluding Chairman) were allowed three gross salaries as honorarium/bonus for the services they rendered in 2006. The performance bonus granted last year to the Commissioners was mainly with the justification that the Commission had seven approved positions of Commissioners to head its various functions. However, only three Commissioners were in position and they looked after all the functions, some with dual responsibilities. To recognise their contribution/services, they were granted three gross salaries as bonus (ie one as guaranteed and two as bonus), according to the documents.
The former chairman was of the view that since a guarantee bonus equal to one gross salary had already been paid to the Commissioners, he proposed that two performance bonuses may be allowed to him and other two Commissioners. He also argued that the proposed expenditure is covered under the allocated budget.
Interestingly, Razi, in the proposal further stated that the SECP Chairman, was erroneously not allowed any bonus for the year 2006. Hence, he be allowed three gross salaries for the said year.
Apart from this, he also proposed that he himself, Chairman, and Salman Shaikh, Acting Chairman, were entitled to annual salary increment from July 1, 2008 as per the policy.
The proposals were considered, and the Board resolved as follows: (i) two performance bonuses equivalent to their gross salary be granted to each of the three Commissioners; (ii) three gross salaries as bonus for the year 2006 be allowed to Razi-ur-Rahman, Chairman, like other two Commissioners.
As regards the proposal for annual increment, Razi and Salman be allowed annual salary increment from July 1, 2008.
According to the documents, basic salary of the Commissioners was Rs 324,450 whereas gross salary was Rs 584,010. Their proposed basic salary and gross salaries were Rs 334,800 and Rs 602,640.
In this context, the board was intimated that payment of performance bonuses to the Commissioners and Chairman was allowed considering their performance equal to excellent as no rating is being done in their case.
It was, therefore desired that in future some guidelines, prescribing some specific parameters, be laid down for determining their entitlement for performance bonuses. There was also a suggestion that the board may assess their performance on the basis of activities and achievements covered in the annual report, which was required to be prepared by the Commission in consultation with the board for submission to the federal government.
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