An undated newspaper clipping reiterating a debunked claim that Sonia Gandhi featured on a list of the world's richest politicians, has been revived online. The clipping which credits Huffington Post for the information is viral claiming Gandhi is in the list of rich public leaders after "having looted the country".
BOOM found that while Huffington Post did include Gandhi's name at the 12th position in a list of 18 richest world leaders published in 2013, her name was later removed from the list and a clarification was issued.
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BOOM has previously too debunked fake news regarding the Congress president's fortunes, the same reiterated by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Maneka Gandhi wherein she can be heard asking...'so if she (Sonia) is the sixth richest woman in this world, where did the money come from?'.
The viral post shares an undated screenshot of a newspaper clipping in Hindi where the headline translates to 'Sonia's Fortunes Worth Over a Billion'. Apart from Sonia Gandhi, the news report includes mugshots of Russian president Vladimir Putin, King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen of England Elizabeth II who also figure in the list.
(Hindi: सोनिया की संपत्ति 1 ख़रब से ज़्यादा ! )
The lede of the report reads 'Sonia Gandhi figures at the 12th position in the list of 20 richest politicians. This claim is made by American website Huffington Post World'.
(Hindi: दुनिया के 20 सबसे अमीर नेताओं में सोनिया गाँधी की पोजीशन 12वी है | यह कहना है अमेरिकी वेबसाइट हफ़्फिंगटन पोस्ट वर्ल्ड का |
A Hindi caption with the viral post translates to 'How much have they looted my country...wake up at least now my countrymen. Sonia Gandhi figures at the 12th position in the list of 20 richest politicians. Her net worth is 2 million dollars, that is one billion in rupees'.
(Hindi: कितना लूटा है मेरे देश को...अब तो जागो मेरे देशवासियों,! दुनिया के सबसे 12 धनी नेताओं में शामिल सोनिया गांधी, कुल संपत्ति 2 अरब डॉलर, मतलब 1 खरब रुपए से भी ज्यादा,!!!)
Check archive here.
BOOM also received the same screenshot on its tip line to check its veracity.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search with relevant words and found an article published on the Huffington Post website on November 29, 2013. The list includes the names of 18 politicians. Sonia Gandhi's name does not figure in this list. An editor's note in the article mentions that Gandhi's name, along with another leader, had been removed from the list.
Read below the content of the editor's note included in the Huffington Post article.
'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. Qatar's emir was succeeded by his son Tamim in 2013.'
BOOM had earlier debunked a similar claim regarding Sonia Gandhi's fortunes. Read below.
The Truth About Maneka Gandhi Calling Sonia Gandhi 'World's 6th Richest Woman'
In the course of this fact check, we had gone through the National Election Watch's data on Sonia Gandhi's total assets declared by her ahead of the 2014 elections. This stood at 9 crore rupees (Rs. 9,28,95,288). The total assets declared by her in 2009 was 1 crore rupees (Rs 1,37,94,768) while that in 2004 was 85 lakh rupees (Rs 85,68,694), as per the data.
The data can be viewed here.
BOOM also went through similar lists of richest Indians and richest world leaders published in The Guardian (2012) and Forbes (2012) but did not find Sonia Gandhi's name in any of them.