Rex Tillerson pledges to sever Exxon ties before becoming US state secretary
In photo: Exxon Mobil chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson on March 12, 2015.
Tillerson, the multimillionaire with suspicious links to Putin, pledged to do what Trump has not: separate public office from private profit
Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson has agreed to sever all ties with ExxonMobil, putting deferred stock awards in an independently managed trust, the company he headed until last week said.
The agreement was reached in consultation with federal ethics regulators to comply with conflict of interest requirements, it said in a statement late Tuesday.
It is not immediately clearwhy Tillerson is required to formally sever all ties with his private business, while president-elect Donald Trump is aparently free not to.Trump has so far refused to sever his private business interests while serving in public office, saying via Twitter that instead he will give control of his business interests to his children, who are currently sitting in on official meetings with world leaders and are playing an active role on his transition team.
Trump was the first US presidential candidate in 40 years to conceal his tax return from the public. He pledged to release them, but said he was forbiddenbecause his taxeswere under audit by the IRS, who responded by sayingthat he was indeed under audit but wasfree to release them to the public. Then Trump pledged to release them if he won, and has so far still refused.His son, Donald Trump Jr,statedthat his father didn'tpublicly releasehistax returnsbecause they were 12,000 pages it would subjectthemto public scrutiny.
Under the arrangement reached with ExxonMobil's board of directors, Tillerson will place the value of some two million company shares that he would have received over the next ten years in an independently managed trust.
Tillerson owned $218 million in Exxon stock, a pension worth $70 million, and between 2012-2015 has had annual compensation packages worth between $28-40 million annually.
He will give up $4.1 million in cash bonuses that had been scheduled to be paid out over the next three years, as well as other benefits. "The net effect of the agreement is a reduction of approximately $7 million in compensation owed to Tillerson," the company said in a statement.
Additionally, Tillerson has committed to selling the more than 600,000 Exxon shares he currently owns. The trust will not be permitted to hold Exxon stock, and Tillerson will be barred from working in the oil and gas industry for the next 10 years.
Despite making these concessions, it is unclear how Tillerson can keephis dutiesas Secretary of State separate from all theformer industry colleagues and politicians he encountered as CEO of the world's largest private oil companies.
Tillerson, who was nominated last month to be President-elect Donald Trump's chief diplomat, retired December 31 after more than forty years at Exxon Mobil, the last ten years as CEO.
Tillerson is regarded as a controversial choice as secretary of state. Hehas only ever worked at ExxonMobil, and has no experience in politics. Democrats and Republicans have expressed concern overhis close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin personally awarded Tillerson with the Order of Friendship.
The FBI, CIA and the White House all have stated that they believe Putin interfered with the US election to help get Donald Trump elected.
Senior Republican senator John McCain, also the chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, has called Putin a "thug and a murderer", and has cast doubt on Tillerson's appointment.
"I and several of my colleagues have concerns about Mr Tillerson, and some of his past activities, specifically his relationship with Vladimir Putin," McCain told reporters on December 27.
Tillerson has also been criticised for deals struck on behalf of ExxonMobil that were at odds with US foreign policy. Tillerson criticised US sanctions against Russia after Putin invaded Crimea.
At the time, Exxon had discovered vast deposits of untapped oil in Russia. Oil and tax revenues fundhalf of Russia's budget, so this sanction badly affected Putin, while also preventing Exxonfrom making hundreds of millions of dollars, if not trillions.
(With inputs from AFP)