Huffington Post deletes Sonia from the richest world leaders' list

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posted on 10 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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According to the earlier list Sonia Gandhi was the 12th richest world leader and had assets worth $2 billion.

New Delhi: After declaring Congress President Sonia Gandhi the 12th richest leader in the world three days ago, the Huffington Post has deleted her name from the list with rejoinder.

The Huffington Post report now carries a footnote at the bottom of the article stating, "Sonia Gandhi and the former emir of Qatar Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani have been removed from this list. Gandhi was originally included based on a listing on a third party site which was subsequently called into question. Our editors have been unable to verify the amount, removed the link, and regret any confusion."

According to the list Sonia Gandhi was the 12th richest world leader. Huffington Post has compiled a list of 20 richest world leaders currently in power.

According the list, Sonia Gandhi was worth $2 billion (approximately Rs 12,000 crore). However the survey did not specify any methodology or source of information.

It claimed that the HuffPost World had compiled the list based on available data.

The Congress had reacted angrily to the list and had rubbished the report saying that it is an attempt to malign the image of Sonia Gandhi, who actually leads a simple life.

The report had placed Sonia Gandhi as richer than Elizabeth II, the Queen of England and Bashar Al-Assad, President of Syria.

Sonia Gandhi's affidavit on assets:

In 2009 while filing her nomination for the Lok Sabha election, Sonia Gandhi, stated that she owns neither a car nor a house in India but she has an ancestral home in Italy valued at Rs 18.02 lakh.

Sonia Gandhi's assets, according to the affidavit, totalled Rs 1.38 crore, nearly Rs 1 crore less than what her son Rahul Gandhi reportedly has.

Her affidavit said that she had Rs 75, 000 in cash and Rs 28.61 lakh in bank deposits.

In addition she had mutual funds worth about Rs 20 lakh and Rs 12 lakh in Reserve Bank of India bonds.

A sum of Rs 1,99,000 was deposited in post offices and Rs 24.88 lakh with the Public Provident Fund.

Sonia Gandhi's jewellery, weighing about 2.5 kg, was valued at Rs 11 lakh while 88 kg of silver possessed by her was stated to be worth about Rs 18 lakh.

She owns two plots of agricultural land totalling up to about 15 bighas and valued at Rs 2,19,000. Their location is not mentioned in the affidavit.

Sonia Gandhi paid Rs 5,58,000 in income tax for the assessment year 2008-09 and Rs 32,512 in wealth tax.

But a report in one of the top websites in the world claimed the Congress President has assest worth $2 billion. However, the report did not clearly state how it has arrived at the comparisons and monetary values of the leaders.

The list caused a lot of embarrassment for many world leaders.

Huffington Post list of the top 20 richest world leaders (Revised):

1. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia - $40 billion

2. Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand - $30 billion

3. Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei - $20 billion

4. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia - $18 billion

5. Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE - $15 billion

6. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emir of Dubai - $14 billion

7. Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader of North Korea - $5 billion

8. Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechstenstein - $5 billion

9. Mohammed VI, King of Morocco - $2.5 billion

10. Sebastian Pinera, President of Chile - $2.5 billion