ALAN YENTOB, one of the BBC’s best-known executives and presenters, is believed to be receiving three separate incomes from the corporation, including his pension.

Yentob, 62, is paid a salary as the corporation’s creative director and receives separate fees for presenting and producing Imagine, the flagship arts programme.

He is also entitled to draw a six-figure BBC pension — although the BBC and Yentob have refused to answer whether or not he does. In all, Yentob could be earning more than £500,000 a year from the BBC.

Separately, The Sunday Times has established that the corporation is allowing selected staff aged 50 and over to claim an income from their pension pot while continuing to work full-time. John Lawson, head of pensions policy at Standard Life, the insurer, said: “This is entirely within the rules, but I have not seen another employer offering this.”

Last night politicians attacked the lavish remuneration at the BBC, and the lengths to which the corporation goes to conceal the details from the public.

Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, said: “BBC pensions are paid for ultimately by licence-fee payers, just as BBC salaries are. For that reason the BBC needs to be completely transparent about its arrangements.

“Licence-fee payers should be allowed the opportunity to judge whether such schemes are value for money.”

Yentob became eligible to receive his final-salary pension in March 2007. He joined the BBC in 1968 and and developed TV shows such as Arena and Omnibus before rising to become controller of BBC1 and BBC2. He lives in Notting Hill, west London, in a property valued at approximately £4m. In 2002, licence-fee payers funded a glittering Glastonbury party at his Tudor mansion in Somerset.

The Sunday Times first approached Yentob on Wednesday to ask him if he was now drawing his BBC pension at the same time as a full salary and presenter’s fees. He refused to answer and referred the inquiry to the corporation’s press office.

In a series of e-mails and telephone calls over the next three days, BBC press officers repeatedly refused to confirm or deny whether Yentob was receiving his pension, arguing that it was a private matter.

The pay and conditions of almost all high-ranking public sector staff are published in annual accounts.

However, the precise earnings of Yentob have been kept from public view since he stepped off the BBC’s board more than five years ago.

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