NAGOYA: Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Akio Toyoda received the highest annual executive pay for any senior official ever at the Japanese automaker in the year ended last March, the company said in an annual securities report Tuesday.

The pay for Toyoda, who took the current post in April last year, climbed some 60 pct from the previous year to 1,622 million yen.

Koji Sato, who succeeded Toyoda as CEO, received 623 million yen in executive pay.

In the year, Toyota become the first Japanese company to report an annual operating profit exceeding 5 trillion yen. On the other hand, a series of irregularities have been found at Toyota and several units over practices to obtain government certification to mass-produce vehicles.

Toyoda’s approval rating fell to 71.93 pct at this year’s shareholder meeting from 84.57 pct in the previous year.

The sharp increase in Toyoda’s executive pay came as he headed the Toyota group and played external roles, Toyota Chief Human Resources Officer Takanori Azuma said.

Toyota’s 15 board directors received 3,692 million yen in executive pay, up from 2,166 million yen paid to 10 directors the preceding year.

JIJI Press