Forbes Magazine
What do Cuba's fatigue-wearing president Fidel Castro and Monaco's
playboy bachelor Prince Albert have in common? Not much other than lofty
positions and vast fortunes. It's a diverse group that includes a
British queen, an African dictator and a few Middle Eastern potentates.
This year, several new faces appear on our list, in part because of the
deaths of some well-known rulers, such as Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.
Taking his spot: his half-brother Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, who became
king in August 2005.
Entrepreneurs they're not. These fortunes are largely derived from
inheritances or positions of power. And the lines often blur between
what is owned by the country and what is owned by the individual. No
surprise then that these estimates are more art than science. For
instance, we figure Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum gets
substantial wealth from his government's stake in banks, aluminum and
real estate companies. In contrast, we don't count Buckingham Palace or
the crown jewels as personal possessions of Queen Elizabeth II. Rather
they belong to the British nation, and are only entrusted to her care.
(See: " A Birthday Fit For A Queen.")
Even stickier: Proving a dictator controls funds and uses them for
personal gain—not for the country's benefit. Equatorial Guinea's
president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and his government deposited up
to $700 million in U.S.' Riggs Bank. A U.S. Senate subcommittee's 2004
investigation criticized Riggs for failing to report potential money
laundering in the Equatorial Guinea accounts. It also outlined examples
of how Riggs allowed Obiang to make cash deposits and withdrawals from
accounts he controlled personally. Riggs, which was acquired by PNC last
year, later agreed to pay a $16 million fine for failing to report these
and other suspicious transactions.
Equatorial Guinea's embassy insists the money, which was released back
to the country, belongs to the government. "Attributing that money to
President Obiang's personal wealth is like saying a person who runs a
hospital is worth the amount of revenue the hospital generates," the
embassy spokesperson wrote in an e-mail. A half dozen other sources
disagree. "They may say it is the country's money, but the president
does control everything," says Arvind Ganesan, a director at Human
Rights Watch who has studied how the Equatorial Guinea government uses
its oil revenue, "Under Obiang, the country's wealth is basically a
presidential ATM."
There is some evidence that Obiang and his family benefited from the
funds, or, more generally, from the nation's decade-long oil boom.
Obiang and relatives reportedly own several private businesses in
Equatorial Guinea, which has an estimated GDP of $8 billion, including a
real estate/construction company, forestry group and a security firm,
controlled by his brother. He and his immediate family recently owned
two multi-million dollar homes in Maryland. The president's son
reportedly paid $700,000 to rent Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's
yacht, Tatoosh.
For another controversial dictator, Fidel Castro, we assume he has
economic control over a web of state-owned companies, including El
Palacio de Convenciones, a convention center near Havana; Cimex, retail
conglomerate; and Medicuba, which sells vaccines and other
pharmaceuticals produced in Cuba. Former Cuban officials insist Castro,
who travels exclusively in a fleet of black Mercedes, has skimmed
profits from these outfits for years. To come up with a net worth
figure, we use a discounted cash flow method to value these companies
and then assume a portion of that profit stream goes to Castro. To be
conservative, we don't try to estimate any past profits he may have
pocketed, though we have heard rumors of large stashes in Swiss bank
accounts. Castro, for the record disagrees, insisting his personal net
worth is zero.
These kings, queens and dictators warrant a separate list from our
billionaires, which had a record 793 members this year, because of the
difficulties separating their personal fortunes from the wealth of the
state. Also, the billionaires' rankings exclude extended family
fortunes, and most of these rulers share their fortunes with numerous
relatives, like Liechtenstein's Prince Hans-Adam II, who heads a family
fortune that dates back almost nine centuries.
Reporting by Cristina von Zeppelin, Allison Fass, Evan Hessel, Tatiana
Serafin, Matthew Swibel and Chaniga Vorasarun.
Source: Forbes Magazine
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