DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — There’s no shortage of seven- and eight-figure salaries among the executives gathered at the World Economic Forum.But the sentiment that CEOs are worth every pretty penny, no matter how many that may be, is finding detractors at this year’s meeting.

Criticism of ousted executives like Home Depot Inc.’s Robert Nardelli, who left the company this year with a $210-million compensation package, has inflamed critics of fat severance deals often referred to as golden parachutes.

They are called so because they often lavish executives with millions of dollars in cash, pension benefits and perks — from access to corporate jets to dry cleaning services to company cars — upon their departure.

At an open session yesterday, the distaste was evident among many participating in a discussion that focused on the merits — and drawbacks — of sky-high pay for CEOs and whether their salaries should be tied to the performance of the company.

“They’ve asked us for our money. They haven’t risked their own. They are not entrepreneurs,” said Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg, president and CEO of Strategic Investment Group, an Arlington, Virginia-based investment advisory group.

Unlike the majority of the discussions at the World Economic Forum, the session was open to everyone, not just those who have paid the $25,000 fee to attend the main gathering. The session was co-sponsored by WEF and the Swiss Federation of Churches.

Earlier this week, the federation held several closed-door discussions with business leaders to discuss the issue.

While Nardelli’s compensation raised eyebrows, it’s not uncommon for outbound executives to pick up large sums on their way out the door. Paul Pressler, the former CEO of US clothing retailer Gap Inc., is set to receive about $14 million as part of his severance package, despite the company’s decline in revenue and profit during his four years as chief executive.

The current levels of some pay are not just excessive but sickening, said Thomas Minder, CEO of Swiss cosmetics firm Trybol Ltd., and an activist famed in Switzerland for his push “against rip-off salaries”.

“It’s actually theft. Managers are employees, too, of the company,” he said at the session. “They are not entrepreneurs.”

But advocates for high CEO salaries said that for companies to attract talented leaders, they must be willing to pay — citing a small pool of qualified candidates and that the laws of supply and demand drive salary rates.

Bjoern Johansson, chairman of a head-hunting firm that bears his name, said at the session that with a growing trend of hiring international CEOs to run multi-national management teams, employers were having to put up more money to snag better candidates.

Though the high-CEO pay trend is generally more prevalent in the United States, it isn’t limited to American companies.

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann was tried twice on charges that he illegally engineered bonuses worth nearly $78 million to bosses at German phone company Mannesmann AG when it was acquired by Vodafone Group PLC.

The charges were ultimately dropped after the Duesseldorf state court approved a deal that called for the defendants to make payments totalling $7.53 million in return for the charges being dropped.