When the line blurs between an individual’s wealth and that of the state, it becomes difficult to estimate how much people in powerful positions are really worth. But it is possible to track some of their spending habits, particularly when those habits nearly triple what their governments allot for social services.
Teodoro Nguema Obiang, son of Equatorial Guinea’s long-time dictator, is a case in point. With plans to build a superyacht commissioned for $380 million (LE 2.2 billion), three times Equatorial Guinea’s budget for health and education combined, it seems many of these politicos have little shame in spending their ill-gotten wealth.
But that could change now that the long-standing, “cozy relationships” despots share with the global banking system are under new scrutiny. Corrupt dictators such as Hosni Mubarak, Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali and Muammar Gaddafi have found themselves center stage as countries move to freeze their ill-begotten assets in bank accounts around the world.
Business Today takes a closer look at these three offenders and their unconscionably lavish spending habits.

Moneybags Mubarak (Ruled Egypt from 1981 to 2011)
As the dust starts to settle, the hunt for Hosni Mubarak’s billions continues. It could take some time: Some argue that his fortune is vast and probably spread over several continents and bank accounts. Mubarak, Egypt’s president for more than 30 years and a serious contender for ‘World’s Worst Billionaire Dictator’, was ousted after the January 25 Revolution.
Media reports claim Mubarak’s years in power have allowed him to amass wealth worth $70 billion. While many doubt the total, the former president definitely benefited from the sale of hundreds of public assets to private companies during the privatization campaigns of the 1990s, according to Samer Soliman, a professor of political economy at the American University in Cairo, as reported in The New York Times.
A blog post by Forbes magazine estimated Mubarak’s family fortune is worth a whopping $55 billion. That’s more than Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah — the man who tops the list of richest rulers in the world.
With estates in London, New York, Beverly Hills and Sharm El-Sheikh, and the reported billions his sons Gamal and Alaa are worth, Mubarak has certainly kept some cash on hand for a rainy day. But it may take a long time before the ongoing investigation into his under-the-table deals reveals Mubarak’s true net worth.

Bourgeois Ben Ali (Ruled Tunisia from 1987 to 2011)
When listing rich despots, it wouldn’t be fair for bt to ignore former Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, would it? The violent protests that eventually toppled the regime were in part due to Ben Ali’s outrageous spending habits. (His wife Leila didn’t help matters by withdrawing over $50 million in gold before fleeing the country.)
WikiLeaks released a cable from Robert Godec, the US ambassador to Tunisia from 2006 to 2009, from 2008 that said: “Corruption in Tunisia is getting worse. Whether it’s cash, services, land, property, or, yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali’s family is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants. […] President Ben Ali’s extended family is often cited as the nexus of Tunisian corruption. Often referred to as a quasi-mafia, an oblique mention of ‘the Family’ is enough to indicate which family you mean.”
The Swiss government and the European Union (EU) ordered the seizure of the former president’s bank accounts just days after he was ousted.
But don’t worry about Ben Ali’s entourage — he and his family made it safely to friendly Saudi Arabia with a fortune of $8 billion originating from real estate, hotels, banks and gold. We will have to wait and see whether any of that wealth is returned to Tunisia.

Qaddafi, Khaddafi or Gaddafi (Ruled Libya from 1969 to ?)
Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat once described Muammar Gaddafi as “100% sick and possessed by the devil.” Given the recent events in Libya, this seems like an accurate description.
The Libyan leader is rumored to be worth $80 billion. His son paid an arm and a leg for Beyoncé to perform at a private party, and the Gaddafi family is known for spending vast amounts on personal security and health experts, including a Ukrainian nurse.
We are still waiting to see how the political stalemate in Libya plays out, but there’s sure to be more financial news surrounding the Gaddafi fortune in the near future.
For many countries, corrupt billionaire dictators are the elephant in the room. So why did Switzerland, the EU and even the US wait until these dictators were on their way out of power before holding them accountable?
At a 2009 G20 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “The days of secret banking are now over,” sending a message to corrupt dictators that they would not be permitted to hide their money in secret offshore bank accounts — free from oversight and taxation. Leaders there also asked how the G20’s $250 billion aid and international trade package would be spent as well as where the $1 trillion promised by the International Monetary Fund for developing countries would be invested.
It’s all very well to lay down the law, but perhaps it would have been more prudent to exercise due diligence and investigate where the money was coming from before they were ousted. Unfortunately, the list of corrupt billionaire politicos doesn’t stop with the aforementioned — the list is long and bt started running out of space. The dictators, however, are not running out of money. Bt

“often referred to as a quasi-mafia, an oblique mention of’ is enough to indicate which family you mean.”