Daijiworld Media Network
New Delhi, Dec 2: Huffington Post has removed UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from its list of world's richest leaders.
It had earlier reported that Gandhi was the 12th richest world leader, ahead of even the Queen of England. However, it later removed her from the list.
In a note at the end of the story, the Huffington Post said: "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. Qatar's emir was succeeded by his son Tamim in 2013," the note said.
Huffington Post had compiled a list of some of the richest world leaders, including kings, presidents, sultans and queens who are currently in power.
The paper had stated that the projected placement was arrived at by comparing a country's GDP per capita to its leader's personal net worth. Sonia Gandhi's net worth was found to be $2 billion, but later the paper removed her name stating that the figure could not be verified.
In her 2009 Lok Sabha nomination papers, Sonia Gandhi had stated that she neither owned a car nor a home in India. She had mentioned an ancestral home in Italy that was worth is estimated to be close to Rs 18 lac and some land. In the affidavit it was mentioned that she possessed Rs 75,000 in cash besides Rs 28 lac in bank deposits and around 2.5 kg of jewellery worth 11 lac rupees, totalling her assets at Rs 1.38 crore.
The Congress took offence to the reported revelation and Congress leader and I&B minister Manish Tiwari said that The Huffington Post ought to stick to its customary 'huffing and puffing' or else its own work would reduce it to a laughing stock for all and sundry. He further said that he felt that the report, the calculation they projected or the placement given to Sonia Gandhi on the list of richest world leaders did not even deserve a response from him.