Amnesty International has given payoffs totalling more than £860,000 to its two most senior former officials, angering its supporters.
The human rights charity says it had no alternative but to pay Irene Khan, its former secretary general, £533,104 after she completed her second four-year term in 2009.
Khan’s deputy, Kate Gilmore, received up to £330,000 at the same time, according to Amnesty’s latest financial records.
The combined payments are equivalent to approximately 4% of Amnesty’s £21.9m annual budget. This is the second controversy to hit the charity recently after criticism last year over its support for Moazzam Begg, the former Guantanamo detainee, and its links to Islamist groups.
Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative MP who chairs the public administration select committee that oversees the Charity Commission,