Tom Albanese received $3.5m for seven months' work at Rio Tinto

Tom Albanese, the former boss of Rio Tinto who quit after the company ran up $14 billion (£8.4 billion) of writedowns on the value of its aluminium and coal businesses, was paid $3.5 million for the seven months’ work he did after resigning in January last year.

Accounts for Rio show Albanese, who recently re-emerged as chief executive of Vedanta, was paid $82,000 for his final three weeks as a director from 1 January to 17 January. The remaining millions were paid for the handover work he did up until his final departure on 16 July.

The accounts show his successor, Sam Walsh, was paid $4 million in salary and bonuses plus a further potential $4.6 million in long-term awards. Among his pay was £871,000 in non-monetary benefits, including the cost of relocating from Australia to London and the travel cost of taking his wife to the company’s AGM.

New chief financial officer Chris Lynch was paid a total of $3.5 million including $1.4 million of non-monetary benefits, including his relocation costs from Australia.