The search for a successor to AIB chief executive Eugene Sheehy is fast becoming politicised as senior politicians call for a complete purge of the bank's board ahead of its agm and egm this Wednesday. Politicians are also threatening to scrutinise the background of the new candidate.

The calls come as the government signals it is prepared to offer the prospect of lucrative long-term incentives to the candidate who succeeds Sheehy, if a government-appointed cap of €500,000 acts as a disincentive to certain applicants.

Senior politicians, including Fianna Fáil's Michael Moynihan and Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd of the Oireachtas Economic Regulatory Affairs Committee, say they will scrutinise the background of each AIB candidate.

Because of unresolved "legacy issues", including decisions to excessively lend to property developers in recent years, "a complete change in the membership of the whole board is now needed," O'Dowd said .

Richard Bruton, Fine Gael deputy leader, said the recruitment of a new chief executive cannot be used to signal it is "business as usual at AIB".

Government sources say finance minister Brian Lenihan will have an influential role, though not a "hard veto" in the succession race. Following a €3.5bn cash injection, taxpayers will own a quarter of AIB and, effectively, control the bank outright because it could not survive without the state banking guarantee put in place last September.

Internal candidates reportedly interested in the top job include AIB director Colm Doherty, head of capital markets, and Robbie Henneberry, the new chief of AIB in the Republic. Asked on Friday to confirm he was applying, Doherty said he was "not willing to comment about that at all".

Banking sources said the new CEO could tap stock options in a recovering AIB in future years. But banking recruitment specialist Brightwater said that a salary of €500,000, because of the depressed banking market, could be big enough to attract external candidates.

Separately, regulatory control over AIB following the disclosures of AIB's former audit head Eugene McErlean will be the focus of an RTE Prime Time programme this week.

The Sunday Tribune has reported that questionable offshore share trading by AIB's Goodbody Stockbrokers went on for several years up to 2001. This newspaper has also established that the broker used nominee companies and structures on the Isle of Man that were also used by former government press secretary Frank Dunlop.

Though under normal circumstances, wielding a veto would be a "dangerous thing to do", Moynihan of the Regulatory Affairs Committee said it may now be necessary to exert more control over AIB.