Chief may drive away with $35m

General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner may be eligible for pensions valued at US$20.2 million ($35.6 million) as of the end of last year, says a regulatory filing. He isn't eligible for severance pay.

The pensions under two retirement plans include a US$68,900 yearly amount and five annual payments of US$4.5 million, according to the Detroit-based company's annual report filed with the SEC on March 5.

"Mr Wagoner has worked for GM for nearly 32 years, and would be entitled to certain vested awards, pension and other post-retirement benefits," company spokeswoman Renee Rashid- Merem said, referring to the annual regulatory filing.

"However, specifics on any compensation entitled to or actually paid to Mr. Wagoner are still being reviewed."

Wagoner, CEO since June 2000, was asked to leave GM as part of the carmaker's restructuring, which President Barack Obama said did not go far enough.

GM had said it would shed 47,000 jobs globally in 2009 and plans to close five assembly plants. .

A former Duke University freshman basketball player and Harvard University MBA, Wagoner joined GM in 1977.

- BLOOMBERG