Vlad the lad tops world’s richest list
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin may secretly be the richest man in the world.
According to estimates of his net worth, the hard-line leader has a personal fortune of almost $260 billion.
If accurate, it would mean he is several times more wealthy than the world’s official richest man, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who has a fortune of $97.3 billion.
During his nearly two decades in power, Mr Putin’s net worth has been widely speculated, with the former KGB agent likely having assets in real estate and company holdings.
The 64-year-old has dis been missed previous estimates of his wealth as “rubbish”.
“I believe it’s $260 billion,” Bill Browder, an author and a former fund manager in Russia, said.
“After 14 years in power …, and the amount of money that the country has made, and the amount of money that hasn’t spent on schools and roads and hospitals and so on, all that money is in property, Swiss bank accounts, shares, hedge funds, managed for Putin and his cronies.”
Mr Putin has never appeared on the official list of the world’s richest men and women, compiled by Forbes.
Without mentioning any names, the US business magazine says it excludes world leaders, particularly “dictators who derive their fortunes entirely as a result of their position of power”.
Signs of his wealth are a $45.4 million superyacht named Olympia, reportedly a gift from Chelsea Football Club owner and oligarch Roman Abramovich the year after Mr Putin became president, and an $1.2 billion palace on the Black Sea.
But Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said the president has no connection with the palace.
The president’s declared income for 2014 was just $154,000, listing ownership of two apartments and a share in a carpark.
Mr Putin has scoffed at claims of huge wealth.
But according to a dossier written by a political rival, Mr Putin could have access to up to 58 planes and helicopters, a $500,000 watch collection and 20 palaces. The report by Boris Nemtsov also claimed Mr Putin uses a private jet with an $78.5 million cabin.