Tenth Richest Head of State

[Usman Naseer]

Tenth Richest Head of State

Islamabad: Pakistani president Asif Zardari is the 10th richest head of state today, believed to be possessing a net wealth of $1.8 billion.

Zardari is poorer than eight monarchs and three-time Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, taking into account the 2009 net wealth estimates of the internationally-acclaimed US magazine Forbes and numbers given by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) before Pakistan's apex court. He heads a nation that is ranked 141st on the Human Development Report 2009 in terms of human and income poverty.

Surprisingly, Forbes has not included Zardari in its 2009 list of 793 billionaires, though it could not have acknowledged him by placing him in the category of richest royals.
The presidency and federal government have rejected reports about Zardari's assets, stating that "these are no more than regurgitation of decade-old unproven politically-motivated allegations". They claim that none of the charges could be proved against him and his wife, the late Benazir Bhutto.

Berlusconi, with a net worth of $6.5 billion, is ranked 70 in Forbes magazine's list of top 793 billionaires. Hence, combining Forbes' 2009 list of billionaires with its list of 15 richest royals and then reading that with NAB estimates about the Pakistani president's wealth to ascertain his ranking among the wealthiest state heads, one finds that King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand has topped the list of richest royals/richest heads of state with a net worth of $30 billion, Sultan of Brunei Haji Hassan-al Bolkiah is second with $20 billion, UAE's emir Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is third with $18 billion and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is fourth with $17 billion.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report...s-list_1323426