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It had been thought that the Apple CEO would not be implicated by the company's investigation into 'irregularities' in the granting of options, which has already revealed that all financial statements going back to 2006 may be unreliable, as the process was overseen by an independent compensation committee.

But TheStreet.com has discovered that from April 2000 to August 2001 no such committee existed.

'Instead, decisions about options grants and executive pay were left up to the board itself,' it says, adding

Of course this in no way proves that Jobs had anything to do with stock option grants.

'The extent to which Jobs participated in board discussions about options during that time period is unclear from Apple's filings. In a proxy statement filed in March 2001, which covered the company's fiscal year ended in September 2000, the company said Jobs "does not participate in deliberations of the board concerning executive compensation",' TheStreet says.

'But the company did not clarify whether Jobs recused himself only from discussions about his own pay as CEO or from all discussions about compensation for top-level management or options grants to them,' it adds.

Apple has declined to comment on specific issues surrounding its investigation, saying only that it is working 'to resolve the matter as quickly as possible'. Jobs also declined to say anything when questioned this week at Apple's developers' conference.

During the April 2000 to August 2001 period, options were granted just once, in January 2001, and Jobs was not a recipient, although current chief operating officer Tim Cook did receive them at what the Wall Street Journal said this week was a 'very favourable price'. Three other executives who received options at the time have since left the company, though former chief financial officer Fred Anderson subsequently joined the board.