To make matters worse, Votron’s package included a bonus of €2.5 million related to the takeover of the Dutch bank ABN Amro, which cost Fortis €24 billion and put the bank’s finances in such a state that the markets deserted it, allowing the share price to go into free fall. As a direct result, the Dutch government took ABN Amro back as part of its share of the Fortis bail-out – for less than Fortis had paid.

Votron also received a bonus of about €1.9 million for the value he added to Fortis shares during his four-year tenure as CEO. That takes account only of the high point on the share-price curve during the period and not the record depths to which the price plunged while Votron still held the reins – and while he continued to reassure shareholders and account holders that all was well. When he arrived in the job, Fortis shares stood at about €16; when he left they were at €9.45 and would fall much further. Votron thus received a bonus of about €290,000 for every euro of value lost.

In the Netherlands, meanwhile, the CEO of ABN Amro received a remuneration package worth more than €8 million, it was also announced last week. His former financial director got €3.8 million in pay and bonuses.

The former CFO of Fortis, Gilbert Mittler, also received a package worth €4 million on his departure, despite his role in the bank’s collapse. In addition, he continues to demand an extra pension contribution of around €900,000, which was added to his contract shortly before his departure. Interim Fortis chairman Jan-Michiel Hessels had refused to approve the pay-out, but he has now been replaced.

Shareholders are still engaged in a legal battle to try to wrestle the maximum worth for their holdings from the wreckage of the bank, with little hope of gaining more than pennies per share, even in a best-case scenario.

A proposed new law would restrict the severance bonus of top executives to one year’s salary, which in Votron’s case comes to €1.3 million. However, other remunerations such as takeover bonuses and value-added premiums, are not covered by the law, which still has to pass and which is expected to encounter opposition from liberals.

Other measures are difficult to envisage. The main source of resentment with Fortis – as in the UK with Royal Bank of Scotland and in the US with AIG – is that executives whose companies have relied on the taxpayer for their rescue continue to reward themselves royally, even as the effects of their time in office devastate the economy at large and take a mortal toll on people who will never earn €6.3 million in a lifetime (see below).

Groen! party deputy Stefaan Van Hecke called the bonuses “a middle finger stuck up to all those affected by the economic crisis”. Socialist member Bruno Tuybens called the bonuses “perverse”. Both men have launched proposals for legislation, but neither has much chance of success. Either the measures are too little, too late, or they are an unwelcome interference by politicians in the affairs of business. The fact that many politicians also hold positions on the boards of companies may also be a factor.

• Herman Verwilst, who took over the running of Fortis on Jean-Paul Votron’s departure and before the government stepped in, was technically entitled to a severance bonus of about €5 million but declined to take more than €800,000. At the other severely affected bank, Dexia, outgoing CEO Axel Miller was originally reported to have declined the €3.6 million to which his contract entitled him. Reports at the weekend, however, suggest that he has taken part of the package. Exactly how much will be revealed when the bank publishes its annual report in about a week.