FirstGroup chief executive suffers shareholder rebuke over bonus package

FirstGroup chief executive Tim O'Toole has seen 42% of the transport group's shareholders vote against a retention share award. Photograph: Linda Nylind

Tim O'Toole, the chief executive of FirstGroup, suffered a rare public rebuke on Friday after 42% of shareholders voted against the remuneration package at the public transport group.

O'Toole was lauded as one the UK's finest public servants when he stepped down as head of the London Underground in 2009, having won plaudits for steering the organisation through the aftermath of the July 7 bombings. However, the private sector proved less welcoming at O'Toole's debut annual meeting as FirstGroup chief executive after a bloc of shareholders appeared to take exception to a "retention" share award of nearly 215,000 shares. The award, worth around ?760,000 at Friday's share price, will be triggered if O'Toole is still at the helm of the owner of the First Great Western and First Capital Connect rail franchises, or is not working his notice, on 1 November 2013.

FirstGroup's annual report states that the award was made after consultation with the six largest shareholders in the company, including blue-chip investors such as Scottish Widows and Standard Life. However, the rest of the share register appears to have followed the guidance of ISS, the corporate governance adviser, which told investors to vote against the remuneration package because O'Toole's award came with few strings attached. ISS said FirstGroup had made the award because O'Toole had received "considerable" offers from US and UK rivals before deciding to join FirstGroup.

A FirstGroup spokesperson said: "We are disappointed with the result of the proxy voting in respect of the Remuneration Report. The Remuneration Committee consults with the Group's largest shareholders on relevant matters relating to the attraction, retention and remuneration of senior executives and will continue to do so in the future." FirstGroup said 42.6% of shareholders voted against the remuneration package while a majority of 57.4% voted in favour. O'Toole earned a total of ?591,000 last year, excluding a housing allowance of ?138,000.

FirstGroup shares rose 8.18% to 356p on Friday as the rail, bus and coach operator said sales in its rail business rose 8.5% in the three months to 30 June and its bus division saw a 0.7% rise in like-for-like sales. The group added that it had made "good progress" in its main problem area, its US school bus division, while revenues at its US Greyhound coach unit grew by 3.7% in the first quarter.

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Campaigners seek arrest of former CIA legal chief over Pakistan drone attacks

The CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Photograph: Danita Delimont/Getty Images/Gallo Images

Campaigners against US drone strikes in Pakistan are calling for the CIA's former legal chief to be arrested and charged with murder for approving attacks that killed hundreds of people.

Amid growing concern around the world over the use of drones, lawyers and relatives of some of those killed are seeking an international arrest warrant for John Rizzo, until recently acting general counsel for the American intelligence agency.

Opponents of drones say the unmanned aircraft are responsible for the deaths of up to 2,500 Pakistanis in 260 attacks since 2004. US officials say the vast majority of those killed are "militants". Earlier this week 48 people were killed in two strikes on tribal regions of Pakistan. The American definition of "militant" has been disputed by relatives and campaigners.

The attempt to seek an international arrest warrant for Rizzo is being led by the British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith of the campaign group Reprieve, and lawyers in Pakistan. The lawyers are also building cases against other individuals, including drone operators interviewed or photographed during organised press facilities.

A first information report, the first step in seeking a prosecution of Rizzo in Pakistan, will be formally lodged early next week at a police station in the capital, Islamabad, on behalf of relatives of two people killed in drone strikes in 2009. The report will also allege Rizzo should be charged with conspiracy to murder a large number of Pakistani citizens.

Now retired, Rizzo, 63, is being pursued after admitting in an interview with the magazine Newsweek that since 2004 he had approved one drone attack order a month on targets in Pakistan, even though the US is not at war with the country.

Rizzo, who was by his own admission "up to my eyeballs" in approving CIA use of "enhanced interrogation techniques", said in the interview that the CIA operated "a hit list". He also asked: "How many law professors have signed off on a death warrant?"

Rizzo has also admitted being present while civilian operators conducted drone strikes from their terminals at the CIA headquarters in Virginia.

Although US government lawyers have tried to argue that drone strikes are conducted on a "solid legal basis", some believe the civilians who operate the drones could be classified as "unlawful combatants".

US drone strikes were first launched on Pakistan by George Bush and have been accelerated by Barack Obama.

Much of the intelligence for the attacks is supplied either by the Pakistani military or the ISI, the country's controversial intelligence agency.

Both have blocked journalists and human rights investigators from visiting the tribal areas targeted, preventing independent verification of the numbers killed and their status.

While Stafford Smith of Reprieve estimates around 2,500 civilian deaths, others say the number is closer to 1,000. US sources deny large numbers of civilian deaths and say only a few dozen "non-combatants" have been killed.

While killing civilians in military operations is not illegal under international law unless it is proved to be deliberate, disproportionate or reckless, Stafford Smith believes the nature of the US drone campaign puts it on a different legal footing.

"The US has to follow the laws of war," he said. "The issue here is that this is not a war. There is zero chance, given the current political situation in Pakistan, that we will not get a warrant for Rizzo. The question is what happens next. We can try for extradition and the US will refuse.

"Interpol, I believe, will have to issue a warrant because there is no question that it is a legitimate complaint."

The warrant will be sought on the basis of two test cases. The first centres on an incident on 7 September 2009 when a drone strike hit a compound during Ramadan, brought by a man named Sadaullah who lost both his legs and three relatives in the attack.

The second complaint was brought by Kareem Khan over a strike on 31 December 2009 in the village of Machi Khel in North Waziristan which killed his son and brother.

Both men allege Rizzo was involved in authorising the attack. The CIA refused to comment on the allegations.

The pursuit of Rizzo will further damage US-Pakistani relations, which are already under severe strain following years of drone attacks and the killing of Osama bin Laden in May. Last week the US suspended $800m (?495m) in military aid to Pakistan.

The US launch its first drone strike against a target in Pakistan in 2004, the only one for that year. Last year there were 118 attacks after Obama expanded their use in 2009, while 2011 has so far seen 42.

The use of drones has been sharply criticised both by Pakistani officials as well as international investigators including the UN's special rapporteur Philip Alston who demanded in late 2009 that the US demonstrate that it was not simply running a programme with no accountability that is killing innocent people.

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