The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program authored a report that criticized the Treasury Department’s approval of executive pay raises.

January 29, 2013 |

The Treasury Department approved “excessive” salaries for executives at a number of financial firms last year that received taxpayer funds as part of the 2008 economic bailout of Wall Street.

The news comes in a report authored by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which said that “Treasury approved all 18 requests it received last year to raise pay for executives at American International Group Inc., General Motors Corp. and Ally Financial Inc,” according to the Associated Press.

14 of the requests for executive pay raises were over $100,000, and the biggest raise was $1 million. The AP also notes that the inspector general report states that Treasury also “allowed pay packages totaling $5 million or more for nearly a quarter of the executives at those firms.”

… .

The Treasury official who oversaw the raises, Patricia Geoghegan, saw no problem with the raises. In a letter sent to Romero, Geoghegan said that ‘it’s unfair to call the pay excessive’ and that ‘Treasury must strike a balance between limiting compensation and approving pay packages that are consistent with executives in similar jobs,’

More: Outrageous: Treasury Dept. OK’d Million Dollar Raises for Bailed-Out Wall St Firms

I do understand the need to attract and keep talented individuals, yet $1M raise?