DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM) denied on Tuesday media reports that the automaker asked U.S. officials to allow for a pay increase of more than 20 percent for Chief Executive Dan Akerson.
The largest U.S. automaker submitted a request to U.S. officials to pay Akerson $9 million for 2013, about the same as his 2012 and 2011 pay packages, GM said in a statement.
Compensation of GM executives is governed by a special paymaster from the U.S. government as part of provisions put in place after GM's U.S.-funded bankruptcy restructuring in 2009.
GM's statement came after reports that GM wanted to pay Akerson $11.1 million for 2013.
GM said the documents were misinterpreted and leaked for "political points" before a U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Tuesday. The hearing focuses on whether the U.S. Treasury approved excessive pay for executives at companies that received federal bailouts.
"Unfortunately, someone who obviously did not understand the compensation request leaked the information in a way that misrepresented the truth in order to score political points on the eve of a congressional hearing," GM said in a statement.
GM shares were up 0.8 percent at $26.55 on Tuesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Matthew Lewis)