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Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man?



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Feb 14 2011
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The mounting pressure from 18 days of historic protests finally drove Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office, after 30-years as his nation’s iron-fisted ruler. But the dictator should not shed a single drop of tear because the fortune he amassed is more than enough to finance his retirement comfortably. It would be nice and jaw-dropping if Forbes can compile the world’s richest dictators or politicians simply because it would put world’s richest man, Mexican Carlos Slim (worth about US$54 billion) and Bill Gates (net worth about US$53 billion) to shame.

Armed with suspended constitution for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak was in virtually every piece of business deal in the country thanks to guaranteed profit from monopolies, red-tape fees, bribery fees, nepotism and whatnot. The British Guardian newspaper estimated the wealth of Mubarak and his family at somewhere between US$40 billion and US$70 billion. That’s about US$1 billion to US$2 billion net profit annually on average, not bad for a job as a president ruling a nation with GDP per capita of just $6,300.

Hosni Mubarak Demoracy

In fact, Mubarak knew it was game over when the protesters persisted even after he cut the nation’s internet access and use of forces to intimidate the tens of hundreds of protesters. And his delayed exit was definitely not to pray for a dignified exit but rather to buy time to move money around and hide significant parts of his fortune. If former Philippine President Marcos had US$684 million on deposits in various Swiss banks alone, expect nothing less than that from Mubarak’s Swiss accounts. The Swiss government has said it is temporarily freezing any assets in Swiss banks that could be linked to Mubarak.

Believed to have flown to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, much of Mubarak’s wealth were from investment deals in British and Swiss banks or tied up in upmarket real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast, not to mention commissions from arm deals. Mubarak’s half-Welsh wife, Suzanne and their sons, Gamal and Alaa, accumulated wealth through partnerships with foreign investors and companies. Mubarak’s wife’s fortune alone was estimated at about US$5 billion.

Regardless whether Mubarak’s wealth is US$40 billion, US$70 billion or more, the fact remains that tracking the money trail would be almost impossible, let alone claiming it back to the people of Egypt. If the Philippine government couldn’t even bring back billions of dollars plundered by former dictator Marcos more than 20 years after his death, what more can the new government of Egypt do to recover it with today’s information technology?

 Marcos Mubarak Mahathir Richest Man

Obviously top army officials were on Mubarak’s payroll judging from his ease of exit from the country. Mubarak may no be the President of Egypt anymore but his tentacles are still in the country. His worry is not about money but more on possible prosecution or assassination. But if you think Hosni Mubarak is the richest man on earth, wait till you hear what has former dictator Mahathir Mohamad plundered. How about US$100 billion?

Using the same rule of thumb that Mubarak “earned” about US1 billion to US2 billion annually, Mahathir’s wealth easily top US$22 to US$44 billion over his 22-year of iron-fist rule. However Malaysia has more natural resources than Egypt and economically, Malaysia is richer although not necessary less corrupted than Egypt. Just like Egypt, corruption in Malaysia is so entrenched that every institutions are tainted – from the monarchy, judiciary, executive, legislature to the lowest ranking policemen on the street. Hence Mahathir is easily worth more than that.

If there’s one factor that is separating Malaysia from Egypt, that’s unemployment. The present government of Malaysia may be more corrupt than previous Mubarak’s administration but Malaysia’s ruling party is smart enough to generate jobs in various government departments especially to cater for the ethnic-Malay, though the jobs created are not needed. If there’s one group that would take to the street just like the Egypt uprising, it would be the ethnic-Malay themselves.

Mubarak Red Sea Resort Sharm el-Sheikh

As long as the Malaysia government can provide them with jobs, the scale of demonstration seen in Egypt would not happen in Malaysia. And as long as PM Najib Razak and his mentor Mahathir Mohamad can keep the pace in feeding these mouths and play the racial cards in their “divide and rule” doctrine, they can rule the country for many more decades and in the process continue to plunder the country.

By the time they’re ousted from the country the same way as Marcos and Mubarak, provided there would be an uprising of the same scale as Egypt in the first place, Mahathir and his followers could easily become the richest man on earth. And if there’s an uprising in Malaysia, do not expect any friendly police or military men in sympathy of the demonstrators. Again, Malaysia is very different from Egypt so an uprising of such stamina and scale is very distant.

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Comments

[…] Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man? […]

Mahathir? i still believe that Taib monopolize more then him.

[…] Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man? […]

[…] Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man? […]

Kerala crab and his “Daddy kasih” sons know that hiding behind Malay sarong will earn them a lot of leeway to make money and swell their egos.
They have done a lot of damages as a result of this.
After GE13, hopefully they will be exposed and packed home back to Kerala once and for all.

[…] Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man? […]

[…] Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man? […]

makan

What wrong being rich? You cannot use all of you wealth for you self. You buy a car..some body get this bussines. You employ a Chofeur,cool,gardener somebody get employed. If you open a farm,factories,supermarkets people get employed…it creat productivity and growth to the nation.
If everyone is poor they stangle each other,no investment…if everyone is rich: that imposible…no body want to work,at least work hard enough. Think…
We always hate the rich until we are the one is rich!!!

Robert Mugabe world richest dictator worth 1600 billion dollar Blood diamond Mines

mahathir a dictator? maybe he’s not very democratic and the government policies were bad and all but still, during his years, that guy is very popular. people freely voted for him.

This article has an example of purely speculative and ignorant reasoning. Based on a Guardian estimate that Mubarak’s family’s wealth is USD40-70bn, hence making 1-2bn per year of his reign, the article then says: “Using the same rule of thumb that Mubarak “earned” about US1 billion to US2 billion annually, Mahathir’s wealth easily top US$22 to US$44 billion over his 22-year of iron-fist rule.”

In other words, let’s just assume that any authoritarian ruler will have made 1bn/year because maybe Mubarak did.

[…] Even so, according to one of the references cited by Wikipedia, Mahathir’s modus operandi may be deduced by extrapolation and logical deduction from that adopted by Mubarak i.e. being in virtually every piece of business deal in the country thanks to guaranteed profits from monopolies, red tape fees, bribery fees, nepotism and whatnot. http://www.financetwitter.com/2011/02/marcos-mubarak-mahathir-whos-the-richest-man.html […]

agrred with julian, hearsay, really unethical

Well written by DAP

[…] Walaupun begitu, menurut salah satu daripada sumber rujukan Wikipedia, modus operandi Mahathir boleh dijelaskan melalui penjelasan dan pemahaman logik dari apa yang dilakukan oleh Mubarak contohnya dengan melibatkan diri dalam setiap urusan perniagaan di dalam negara dengan adanya monopoli, birokrasi, rasuah, nepotisma dan banyak lagi. http://www.financetwitter.com/2011/02/marcos-mubarak-mahathir-whos-the-richest-man.html […]

all umno goons must be tried in court and sent to jail once pakatan gets putrajaya.

kerala apa nama must be tried and hang and sent back to india for display as the most devilist scum on earth so as not to pretend to be a stupid malatytbabiboon anymore.

[…] because there is a certain Malaysian Indian who has amassed wealth up to US$44 billion (see here) at the expense of the Malaysians, in particular the Malays. Rate this:Share this:MoreLike […]

[…] Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man? […]

[…] Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man? […]

[…] Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man? […]

Totally unethical reporting..Surely some libel lawsuit can be done against the writer.

Lol… all the butthurt degenerate Malays cannot handle th truth that are the most f***ed up race in SEA. These Austronesian (Malay & native Indons) are not called niggers of SEA without a reason.

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