Huffington Post removes Sonia Gandhi from list of rich politicians, apologises

A day after publishing a report that claimed that Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and chairperson of India's ruling coalition United Progressive Alliance, is the 12th richest politician in the world, the Huffington Post has now removed her name from the list of rich world leaders.

Huffington Post removed Sonia Gandhi's name from the report and added a footnote stating they were unable to verify the figures pertaining to her finances.

"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," the footnote stated.

In a report published yesterday Huffington Post World had claimed that Sonia Gandhi's wealth was $2 billion against the $400-500 billion of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (See: Sonia Gandhi richer than Queen Elizabeth: Huffington Post).

According to the Huffington Post report, with a net worth of $2 billion Sonia Gandhi also ranked above Moroccan prince Albert II, who is worth $1 billion, Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said, President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

HuffPost World said the list of the 20 richest world leaders currently in power was based on available data, but did not mention how it arrived at this conclusion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin topped the list with riches worth $40 billion, followed by Bhumibol Adulyadej, the king of Thailand, and Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei.

HuffPost World said the list of the 20 richest world leaders currently in power was based on available data, but did not mention how it arrived at this conclusion.