Huffington Post removes Sonia's name from richest leaders' list

New Delhi, Dec 3: A day after they published a

in the world, Huffington Post found itself caught in controversy for including

president

's name in the list.

Almost immediately, the website removed the Congress leader's name from the list and added a footnote clarifying their stand on the issue.

[Read: Congress calls report absurd]

"Editor's Note: 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 says.

The report had placed Sonia Gandhi at 12th position, as richer than Elizabeth II, the Queen of England and Bashar Al-Assad, President of Syria.

Reportedly, the website was not clear on how they'd arrived on the asset figures of the leaders. Sonia's wealth, as shown by the website, is far more than what she'd stated in the Lok Sabha nomination affidavit in 2009.

According to the affidavit filed by Sonia, she owns neither a car nor a house in India but she has an ancestral home in Italy valued at Rs18.02 lakhs, reports DNA newspaper.

Sonia Gandhi's assets, according to the affidavit, totalled Rs1.38 crore, nearly Rs1 crore less than what her son Rahul Gandhi reportedly has.
Gandhi's affidavit said that she had Rs75,000 in cash and Rs 28.61 lakh in bank deposits. In addition she had mutual funds worth about Rs 20 lakh and Rs12 lakh in Reserve Bank of India bonds.

A sum of Rs199,000 was deposited in post offices and Rs 24.88 lakh with the Public Provident Fund.

Sonia Gandhi's jewellery, weighing about 2.5 kg, was valued at Rs11 lakh while 88 kg of silver possessed by her was stated to be worth about Rs18 lakh.

She owns two plots of agricultural land totalling up to about 15 bighas and valued at Rs219,000. Their location is not mentioned in the affidavit. Sonia Gandhi paid Rs558,000 in income tax for the assessment year 2008-09 and Rs32,512 in wealth tax.

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