Sapura Energy's embattled Shahril leaves remuneration committee

PETALING JAYA: Sapura Energy Bhd's embattled president and group CEO Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin has left the group's remuneration committee, a week after his pay package came under scrutiny.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the group said that the composition of the board remuneration committee has been revised.
The committee now comprises four members namely chairman and non-independent non-executive director Datuk Hamzah Bakar as well as three independent non-executive directors Mohamed Rashdi Mohamed Ghazalli, Datuk Muhamad Noor Hamid and Datuk Ramlan Abdul Rashid.
Previously, the committee comprised three members namely Hamzah, Mohamed Rashdi and Shahril.
Last week, the Minority Shareholder Watch Group (MSWG) urged shareholders at the group's AGM to vote against the re-election of Mohamed Rashdi and Muhamad Noor, as well as the payment of directors' fees and benefits up to RM5.6 million.
MSWG said that the directors have not been performing their fiduciary duties in safeguarding the interests of shareholders as the issue of Shahril's "excessive" remuneration has been ongoing for several years.
A representative of the Employees Provident Fund threw support behind MSWG at the AGM and even went a step further to vote against the re-election of Shahril.
Earlier this week, Shahril told SunBiz in an interview that he is willing to leave the remuneration committee to appease shareholders who are concerned over his pay package.
"I don't have an issue with that. If the board sees fit, I can just come in and advise," he said, in defending the group's corporate governance.
Hamzah explained that Shahril, who is not involved in discussions over his remuneration, was needed in the committee to provide input on the performance of the senior management.
Sapura Energy's share price fell 0.82% or half sen to close at 60.5 sen with 60.75 million shares traded.