Shareholders of U.K. oil giant BP PLC (BP) should vote against the re-election of Chairman Peter Sutherland due to his actions as a non-executive director of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS), advisory group PIRC said Tuesday.

"In our opinion, his actions as a non-executive director of Royal Bank of Scotland and as a member of its remuneration committee, bring into question his suitability as BP's chairman," PIRC said.

The non-executive directors of RBS have been criticized for allowing the bank to undertake a risky expansion strategy that has been blamed for its recent downfall. Those on the remuneration committee have been even more strongly criticized for allowing former Chief Executive Fred Goodwin to walk away with a GBP693,000 annual pension.

The bank is now majority owned by the U.K. government after it was forced to inject billions of pounds into the bank to keep it afloat.

PIRC also advised BP shareholders to vote down the remuneration report because the company hasn't justified the most recent salary increase of its executives.

The advisory group is also advising shareholders of Anglo-Dutch publishing group Reed Elsevier PLC (RUK) to vote down its remuneration report because the company awarded a GBP2,387,649 transaction-related bonus to Pat Tierney, who retired from Reed's boards after the company sold its Harcourt Education unit. The group discourages such bonuses for being egregious.

-By Steve McGrath, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9284; steve.mcgrath@dowjones.com