The Post Office Horizon scandal has brought attention to the role of CEOs. It seems that the Post Office leadership, at the minimum, drove the culture of presumed guilt and lying to the sub postmasters . I guess that the protection of corporate and professional reputations made a significant contribution to the outcome. Paula Vennells received £2.2 million in performance related pay during this time
The CEO of Boeing at the time of the 737 Max 8 crashes was eventually fired in 2020. He took $62 million severance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Muilenburg
The 2008 Financial Crisis was, according to Wikipedia, the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Predatory lending in the form of subprime mortgages targeting low-income homebuyers, excessive risk-taking by global financial institutions, a continuous buildup of toxic assets within banks, and the bursting of the United States housing bubble culminated in a "perfect storm", which led to the Great Recession. The role of the bank leadership was the major factor in the crisis - at massive salaries.
Whilst 47 people jailed for their contributions to the 2008 financial crisis no leaders of the biggest banks received any criminal punishment. Of the 47 bankers jailed 43 came from Iceland, Spain and Ireland. One person from the US received a jail sentence. None from the UK (https://ig.ft.com/jailed-bankers/#:~:text=Forty%2Dseven%20bankers%20were%20sentenced,the%20financial%20sector%27s%20catastrophic%20failures)
Fred Goodwin was the most high profile British financial leader. He did lose his knighthood but receives a pension of £500,000 pa (https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-12710041/Former-RBS-boss-Fred-Shred-Goodwin-enjoying-500k-gold-plated-pension.html)
Free-market economists argue high executive pay is justified if it aligns with the interests of executives and shareholders. If businesses are willing to pay these sums, they say, that is value that the market thinks the executives are worth ( https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210125-why-ceos-make-so-much-money#:~:text=%27CEOs%20are%20key%20to%20success%27&text=On%20one%20side%2C%20free%2Dmarket,thinks%20the%20executives%20are%20worth)
I personally cannot see why one individual is worth millions of pounds more than the next person, especially when companies are governed by boards with clear responsibilities. Even if the logic is that a great CEO is worth a massive salary package why do they get massively rewarded for failure ? There is also a feeling that these salaries are decided by committees made up of people who have a vested interest in keeping executive pay high.
And they say free markets bring about competition and efficiency - they seem to me to look after the haves at the expense of the community.