OPINION: `The wealthiest world leaders of all time´
By Nathan ‘Jolly’ Green, early March 2020
Some if not most of the country leaders shown below got very rich at their nation’s expense during their time in office. I reveal the peak net worth of the most affluent non-royal heads of state and government chiefs ever, adjusted for inflation into 2019 values.
Vladimir Putin: $206.3 billion. Vladimir Putin’s official salary from 2011 to 2016 totaled $673,000. Yet by some means, the Russian President was reportedly worth up to $200 billion in 2017, according to former Hermitage Capital Management CEO Bill Browder, who revealed his estimate under oath to the US Senate Judiciary Committee. The money is allegedly tied up in numerous banks and investments in the West.
Six Hundred Billion US Dollars estimated by others is a very conservative amount and could even be double that.
Napoléon Bonaparte: $400 million. Born into a relatively impoverished family in Corsica, Napoléon rose to become the self-styled Emperor of France following the French Revolution.
George Washington: $553 million. The second wealthiest US president, George Washington. He earnt most of his money from plantations worked by slaves.
Uhuru Kenyatta: $562 million. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is the titleholder of at least 500,000 acres of prime farmland in his home country. The land was inherited from his father, Jomo Kenyatta, the first leader of Kenya. The politician also has a significant stake in the nation’s top dairy company, as well as shares in a commercial bank and TV station.
His father, Jomo Kenyata, came from a poor tribal farming family. During the 1930’s he was educated in Moscow USSR at the Communist ‘University of the Toilers of the East’ (KUTV) which was a revolutionary training school for prominent Communist political leaders. The school operated under the umbrella of ‘Communist International’ and was in existence from 1921 until the late 1930s. He became President in 1964. Desiring a one-party communist state, he transferred regional powers to his central government, suppressed political dissent, and prohibited KANU’s only rival—Oginga Odinga’s leftist Kenya People’s Union—from competing in elections.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo: $752 million. The President of African oil-rich Equatorial Guinea since 1979, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, has hoarded millions while many of his people live on less than a dollar a day. The corrupt leader owns everything from a Malibu estate to Bugatti Veyrons, Bentleys and a Lamborghini, and has a suitably lavish champagne lifestyle. Forbes estimated his net worth in 2006 at $600 million.
Nursultan Nazarbayev: $1 billion. He served as President of Kazakhstan from April 24, 1990, until his resignation this year on March 19. During his 29 years in office, the strongman leader was accused of widespread human rights abuses, not to mention rampant corruption, and is said to have amassed a fortune of $1 billion.
Fidel Castro: $1.1 billion. Cuba’s long-time revolutionary communist leader was prime minister of the Caribbean country from 1959 to 1976 and President from 1976 to 2008. He espoused Marxist-Leninist values based on the fair distribution of wealth, but that didn’t stop him from accruing an immense personal fortune. At the same time, sections of his people starved, at the least, suffered shortages and hardship. In 2006, his net worth was estimated by Forbes at $900 million, but assed by others at $2.5 Billion.
Islam Karimov: $1.1 billion. Islam Karimov was the leader of Uzbekistan and its precursor, the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, from 1989 until his death in 2016. The President ruled the country with an iron fist – human rights abuses were commonplace, and the press was severely constrained. Karimov also enjoyed emptying the state’s coffers – his net worth was thought to be $1 billion in 2016.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani: $1.4 billion. He served as the fourth president of Iran. Born into a wealthy family, but made his wealth while he was in office from 1989 to 1997, he acquired many business concerns, which made him a wealthy man indeed. In 2006, the politician, who died in 2017, had a net worth pegged by Forbes at $1.1 billion.
Robert Mugabe: $1.4 billion+. The prime minister then President of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2017, Robert Mugabe presided over the economic collapse of the once affluent nation, which he plundered to enrich himself and his family. Leaked US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks show the infamous leader, who owned many farms and luxury residences, was worth more than $1 billion in 2001.
Bashar Al-Assad: $1.7 billion: Syria’s brutal leader, who has been President of the war-ravaged country since 2000, has been accused of hoarding up to a staggering $122 billion stolen from the state coffers. Still, a more realistic analysis carried out in 2012 and reported in the Guardian newspaper put his net worth at $1.5 billion.
Ali Bongo Ondimba: $2 billion+. Reports suggest the African Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba may have siphoned off 25% of his country’s gross domestic product. Hence, it’s highly likely the politician, who has been in power since 2009, is worth significantly more than the $2 billion figure that is widely quoted. His assets include a $138 million townhouse in Paris.
Saddam Hussein: $2.5 billion: Saddam Hussein amassed a colossal fortune as President of Iraq from 1979 to his ousting in 2003. Helping himself freely to the Iraqi people’s money, the notorious dictator was worth $2 billion in 2003, according to Forbes. The many assets he owned included 89 palaces, numerous luxury cars, and large stakes in media companies such as France’s Lagardere SCA.
Wen Jiabao: $3 billion. China’s premier from 2003 to 2013, Wen Jiabao managed to stockpile billions during his 10-year term. A comprehensive review of the company and regulatory filings published in the New York Times in 2012 revealed the Communist Party of China chief had garnered assets amounting to $2.7 billion.
Daniel Arap Moi: $3 billion. The African President of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. During his time in office, the acquisitive politician funneled upwards of $1 billion into secret bank accounts and private estates around the world. According to Forbes, Moi’s assets include ample stakes in several oil companies, a 247,000-acre farm in Australia, and shares in banks and shipping firms. Now, the retired politician is said to be worth as much as $3 billion.
Ilham Aliyev: $3 billion+. The autocratic leader has been the President of Azerbaijan since 2003. Along with curtailing free speech in the country, the anti-democratic politician has been accused of embezzling billions and is said to control several ostensibly state-owned companies as well as sizable assets in the nation’s largest banks.
Francisco Franco: Up to $3.8 billion. He ruled over Spain from 1939 to his death in 1975 and was responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of people, mainly republicans and other political dissenters. Upper estimates of the dictator’s wealth in 1975 amount to 100 billion pesetas, which works out at around $3.8 billion in today’s money.
Kim Jong-il: $4.3 billion. Another dictator who put his people through hell, North Korea’s Kim Jong-il, stole an estimated $4 billion while many of his citizens were starving to death. The despot’s so-called slush fund was managed by Ri Su-yong, North Korea’s former ambassador to Switzerland, who deposited the cash in private Swiss bank accounts.
Kim Jong-un: $5 billion. North Korea’s current head honcho Kim Jong-un rivals his father in barbarity and beats him when it comes to net worth. The supreme leader of the Hermit Kingdom, who reportedly enjoys the finer things in life from yachts and luxury cars to caviar and vintage wine, is said to have a fortune of $5 billion.
Sani Abacha: $5 billion. Military despot Sani Abacha was the de facto leader of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. His time in office was marked by widespread human rights abuses and endemic corruption. Following the dictator’s demise, the Nigerian government discovered the tyrant had hidden away $4 billion in secret bank accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere.
Adolf Hitler: $6.5 billion. The most reviled despot of them all, Adolf Hitler responsible for the murder of millions. The ruthless leader, who killed himself in 1945, swindled Germany out of billions. He also made millions from the sale of his book Mein Kampf. According to a 2014 documentary, Hitler had a net worth of 1.1 billion reichsmarks, which is $6.5 billion in today’s money.
Mobutu Sese Seko: $7.9 billion. Mobutu Sese Seko was President of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 1965 to 1997. Just as free and easy with his people’s money as all the other dictators, the despotic leader helped himself to $5 billion. He owned palaces in Zaire as well as grand residences in Paris and Switzerland and was partial to pricey luxuries, including vintage rosé champagne.
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali: $11.2 billion. Loathed by his people, ex-Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is thought to have controlled between 30 to 40 percent of the nation’s economy during his time in power. Together with his family, he held assets estimated to be worth around $10 billion in 2011, the year he was ousted.
José Eduardo dos Santos: $20 billion. Topping Africa’s current rich list, the former President of Angola hoarded enormous sums of money when he was the leader of the country from 1979 to 2017—educated in Russia a communist while Ignoring the plight of his people, who are in the most part poverty-stricken. He chose to enrich himself and his family instead. His daughter, Isabel, is Africa’s richest woman with a net worth of $2.3 billion.
Ibrahim Babangida: $21.7 billion. Another Nigerian leader who appropriated billions of the nation’s money, Ibrahim Babangida was President of the country from 1985 to 1993. The shameless military general is believed to have laundered $12.4 billion off the back of Nigeria’s enormous oil windfall during the 1992 Gulf War.
Mahathir Mohamad: $45.4 billion. The world’s oldest sitting prime minister at 93, Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad, had a long stint in power from 1981 to 2003 and assumed office again in May of last year. Via his proxy Tun Daim Zainuddin, the elderly leader is said to have billions stashed away and is thought to have interests in 50 banks around the world.
Ferdinand Marcos: $53.1 billion. Cruel and corrupt, Ferdinand Marcos was President of the Philippines from 1972 to 1986. Together with his wife, Imelda, who is widely known for her collection of over 1,000 high-end shoes, the despot embezzled hundreds of millions and, if some reports are to correct, up to $53.1 billion in today’s money went missing during his dictatorship.
Suharto: $54.2 billion. President of Indonesia for 31 years until his resignation in 1998. The military despot, who in 2004 was named the most corrupt world leader of the previous 20 years by Transparency International, plundered up to $35 billion during his grip on power through a system his opponents dubbed “corruption, collusion, nepotism.”
Ali Abdullah Saleh: $68.3 billion. The President of Yemen from 1990 to 2012 was as corrupt as they come. Saleh has been accused of stealing incredible sums of money from the Yemeni people before his ousting following the Arab Spring series of protests. A report presented to the United Nations Security Council in 2015 pegged his net worth at up to $64 billion.
Hosni Mubarak: $78.7 billion. Another disreputable leader who was overthrown following the Arab Spring protests, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was removed from power in 2011 after serving 30 years as President of the country. That same year, ABC News and the Guardian alleged the politician had stolen $70 billion from the Egyptian people. However, a report in the Washington Times suggests the sum could have been as much as an eye-watering $700 billion.
Muammar Gaddafi: $224.8 billion. The dubious accolade of most affluent world leaders of all time goes to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi [perhaps except for Vladimir Putin]. In 2011, officials estimated that Gaddafi, who was in power from 1977 to 2011, stashed away $200 billion in secret bank accounts, shady investments, and suspect real estate deals, courtesy of the country’s massive oil revenues.
Mexico, and then there were two, former president’s Felipe Calderon, Enrique Peña Nieto. It is alleged these Mexican ex-Presidents took huge bribes from the cartels in Mexico.
In a trial in federal court in New York 2019, that turned out to be about far more than Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Mexican drug lord, a court document that was unsealed Wednesday claimed bribes by cartels were paid to former president Felipe Calderon and to a former campaign worker of current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The assertion of corruption came just a day after the bombshell — by witness Alex Cifuentes Villa, a Colombian drug trafficker who worked with El Chapo from 2007 to 2013 — that former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto attempted to squeeze $250 million in bribes from the kingpin shortly after he took office in 2012, but settled for $100 million. https://www.foxnews.com/world/three-mexican-presidents-linked-to-el-chapo-corruption-as-trial-raises-bribery-claims
[Margarete Thatcher, UK Primeminister once said, Mexico should be one the wealthiest countries in the World if the politicians didn’t keep stealing all the money]
Hugo Chavez: $200 billion. When Chavez died, his country was already starving and unable to support the medical care of the people. Yet he died having stashed many billions in International Bank Accounts, Switzerland, Luxemburg, just to name a few. His family, who were poor middle class, currently own seventeen country estates totaling over a hundred thousand acres. They also have liquid cash assets of five hundred and fifty million dollars. Hugo Chavez’s oldest daughter Maria Gabriela is believed to be Venezuela’s richest woman, with a personal fortune of more than 4 billion dollars.
Nicholas Maduro: $2 million + pigs can fly. Nicolas Maduro also has a complicated relationship with money. He earns [on paper] one of the lowest salaries among South American leaders [$4,000 a month] since Venezuelan law caps his salary at 12 times the country’s minimum wage. But Maduro’s net worth has been estimated at 2 million dollars. Local media have also been highly critical of Maduro’s spending habits, which they say amount to 1.8 million US dollars a day. His nephews from his wife’s side are currently in a US prison for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the US, using a government-owned airplane.
Ralph Gonsalves: Net worth unknown, [annual salary 55,724 USD] the Prime Minister of the tiny island state of St Vincent and the Grenadines, a friend at one time or other with some others on this list, with exceptions, of course. Like the others, he has at least four of their traits. He refuses to action transparency legislation, wants to involve and submerge his children in the process of government. He over-spends, and over-travels, and intends to remain in power forever. As for other traits, we must wait and see, and for net worth ASK RALPH. I doubt he will tell you the truth if he tells you at all, because another trait that the others had, and he said has himself, he tells lies.
According to Wikipedia, Forbes, IMDb & Various Online resources, famous Politician Ralph Gonsalves’s net worth is $41 Million at the age of 73 years old. He earned the money being a professional Politician. Net Worth Verification Status Not Verified/
Also see
https://www.iwnsvg.com/2015/12/06/ulp-denies-pm-has-multi-million-us-bank-account/
https://www.iwnsvg.com/2016/07/24/any-word-on-the-hsbc-swiss-bank-account-probe-gonsalves/
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DISCLAMER: The opinion, belief and viewpoint expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinion, belief and viewpoint of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com or official policies of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com
