Sonia Gandhi: World's Fourth Richest Politician

Sonia Gandhi is the world’s fourth richest politician, said Business Insider, a U.S. based internet news aggregator and publisher. As per the report, the UPA chairperson’s wealth is currently valued at $2-19 billion (Rs 10,000-45,000 crore).

The wide range given, $2-19 billion is a giveaway that these numbers may have been plucked out of a hat.

As per Netapedia, an online encyclopedia about India’s politicians and the political events, Sonia Gandhi has movable assets worth 1, 17, 70,468 and immovable assets worth 20, 24,300. This financial information was as per affidavit filed before the 2009 general elections.

Firstpost’s own estimate, based on income disclosed by Sonia Gandhi during the last general elections and the income-generating assets she owns, suggests that her annual income cannot be more than Rs 50-75 lakh.

Given the wide range within which her assumed wealth is estimated, it is obvious that Business Insider is not sure what the numbers really are. The online publication has sourced the story to a website called ‘World’s Luxury Guide’. Luxury Guide in turn traces its information to five other sources like OpenSecrets.org, Forbes.com, Bloomberg.com, Wikipedia.org, and Guardian.co.uk.

The site ranks Sonia Gandhi at position 4, behind the Saudi king, the Sultan of Brunei and Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, though the numbers clearly look deceitful.

Placing Sonia Gandhi at position 4 needs a fanciful imagination in view of the range given. At $2 billion, the lower end of the wealth range, Sonia would come in at position 16 on the list, just under Lu Guanqiu, member of China’s National People’s Council, whose wealth is estimated at $2.4 billion.

The others ranked on the top 10 include Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (President of UAE), Vladimir Putin (Prime Minister of Russia), Savitri Jindal (Member of the Legislative Assembly from Haryana, India), Zong Qinghou (Member, National People’s Council, China), Serge Dassault (Senator of France) and Silvio Berlusconi (Member of Parliament, Italy).

Pakistan’s Asif Ali Zardari comes in at position 19 with an estimated wealth of $1-4 billion. If this is true, the Pakistan Supreme Court could be on the right track in pressuring the Prime Minister on prosecuting Asif Zardari for corruption.



Source: Silicon India