At the annual and extraordinary general meeting on Thursday, shareholder Tan Tock Chin queried Mr Liew's bonus and was told the amount accrued to him in 2007 was an economic value added bonus payment, known as EVA.

Essentially, EVA measures the net operating profit after tax of the group, minus the cost of all capital employed.

In 2007, CapitaLand's EVA was $2.3 billion and the amount fell to a smaller $660 million last year.

And this was why Mr Liew received a comparatively more modest bonus of $2.98 million for 2008, the 300 shareholders present at Capital Tower's auditorium were told.

'EVA has been proven to be a very effective way of determining how efficient a company is and it is for the long-term interest of the company that it uses EVA,' said Mr Lim Chin Beng, chairman of the executive resource and compensation committee.

Mr Lim said Mr Liew's bonus goes into an 'EVA bank account' and he takes home one-third of the balance every year.

In a bad year for CapitaLand, for instance, that running total in his bonus account may be clawed back, he said.

'In the early years of CapitaLand's life, there have been very bad years. There have been negative EVAs,' Mr Lim explained.