Sharif hai

Last week, when everyone was getting all shaken and stirred over the revelation that BJP president Amit Shah’s assets had increased manifold in the last five years, the “A” word was creating havoc at our neighbour’s. The Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The Panama Papers from last year had revealed that Sharif owned assets stashed offshore which he had never declared. A joint action investigative team confirmed this. The court, however, premised the disqualification on a morality clause in the Constitution. It requires leaders to be “truthful” and “trustworthy”.

Putin’s Half-ta  

In the meantime, financier Bill Browder told the US Senate Judiciary Committee that Russian President Vladimir Putin is possibly the richest man in the world. He said in his testimony: “I estimate that he has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains...” Browder tells a rivetting account of how it started in 2003 with Putin arresting Russia’s biggest oligarch and richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Following Khodorkovsky’s conviction, the other oligarchs worked out a hafta system with Mr President. Putin settled for 50 per cent. Says Browder, “He wasn’t saying 50 per cent for the Russian government or the presidential administration of Russia, but 50 per cent for Vladimir Putin personally.”

Damaad Trump

Around the third week of July, Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, filed an amended financial disclosure. It included 77 items worth around $10 million that had been “inadvertently omitted” earlier. His wife Ivanka, the President’s daughter and senior advisor, also made requisite financial disclosures. The couple declared assets worth around $269 million — a figure that is several millions less than what the President himself owes German, US and other lenders, according to a disclosure form released by the US Office of Government Ethics in June.

Chatur Baniya  

A rich list would be incomplete without mention of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. Post his discovery that data is the new asset, natural resource, whatever, his own assets have rocketed. He is now the second richest man in Asia with a net worth of $34.8 billion. But wait, he is no mantri shantri! We got mixed up. Those would be among his assets.

Upala Sen