“That has been decided. Now, no more politicians will be appointed to any board,” he said at the Parliament lobby.
“We want professionals to run our GLCs but, at the same time, we want the pay and allowances to be reasonable.
“We cannot provide high pay to someone to run a GLC which belongs to the government. This axing of political appointments has been done for the last few months.
“The salary paid must be reasonable.”
Azmin was asked to respond to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s announcement in Parliament yesterday that Irwan, the former treasurer-general, earned close to RM3 million between 2011 and June 2018 before his contract was terminated.
The income did not include other forms of income, such as allowances as board member, Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) said in a written reply to Lim Lip Eng (PH-Kepong).
According to Guan Eng, Irwan also held non-executive, non-independent or directorial positions in 23 companies under the Minister of Finance (MOF) Incorporated.
Among the companies listed were 1MDB, where he was non-executive chairman; Khazanah Nasional Berhad (director); Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (non-executive chairman); Permodalan Nasional Berhad (non-independent non-executive director) and TRX City Sdn Bhd (non-executive chairman).
In those positions, Guan Eng said Irwan took home incomes of between RM9,000 and RM1,212,797.87, totalling RM3.868 million.
Asked about the review of GLCs and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) by Putrajaya, Azmin said professionals had been appointed to manage them.
“We have reviewed the membership of the boards of most of the main GLCs. Look at Tabung Haji and Felda. We have removed all politicians and employed professionals to manage them.”
Prior to the May 9 general election, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said GLCs had deviated from their original purpose of helping the poor.
According to him, the GLCs had become so huge and unsupervised that they could not be controlled or made to follow policies backed by the government.
He said GLC chief executives or directors under his administration would not be paid high salaries but will get a bonus only if they perform well.