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Gallery: Meet the 23 richest politicians in the world

Money, meet power. Power, money.

No one goes into politics to get rich, but politicians happen to be some of the wealthiest figures around the globe.

German newspaper Die Welt’s World’s Luxury Guide section recently released a list of the world’s richest politicians, and from local officials and parliamentarians to foreign ministers and royal heirs, the list includes newcomers and regulars alike.

Leaders without any real involvement in matters of state, like Bhumibol Adulyad, King of Thailand were excluded from the list.

#23: John Kerry
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  • #23: John Kerry

  • #22: Jane Harman

  • #21: Michael McCaul

  • #20: Darrell Issa

  • #19: Asif Ali Zardari

  • #18: Kostyantin Zhevago

  • #17: Andrei Molchanov

  • #16: Lu Guanqiu

  • #15: Sebastian Pinera

  • #14: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

  • #13: Suleiman Kerimov

  • #12: Wu Yajun

  • #11: Prince Hans-Adam II

  • #10: Silvio Berlusconi

  • #9: Serge Dassault

  • #8: Zong Qinghou

  • #7: Savitri Jindal

  • #6: Vladimir Putin

  • #5: Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed al Nahyan

  • #4: Sonia Gandhi

  • #3: Michael Bloomberg

  • #2: Hassanal Bolkiah

  • #1: King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud

Source: World’s Luxury Guide (based on OpenSecrets.org, Forbes.com, Bloomberg.com, Wikipedia.org, Guardian.co.uk)

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    Mute Leslie Alan Rock
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 1:09 PM

    No Bertie?

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    Mute Rommel Burke
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 1:13 PM

    LOL cash reserves too difficult to verify.

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    Mute Conor Farrell
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 1:15 PM

    Don’t.

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    Mute John O'Neill
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 1:20 PM

    Could easily be America’s Most Wanted. Lots of shady characters in those photos.

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    Mute JibberIrish
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 1:52 PM

    Not one of the rich enough to pay off a little country’s debt, like Ireland say.

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    Mute Dirt Lancaster
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 2:19 PM

    A bit more information on how they made their money would have been interesting.

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    Mute RDX862
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 2:32 PM

    For the American politicians anyway

    John Kerry – married into the money – Heinz ketchup/soup family
    Jane Harman – married into money – audio equipment
    Michael McCaul – married into money – radio stations
    Darrell Issa – self-made millionaire – car alarms
    Michael Bloomber – self-made billionaire – financial

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    Mute Dirt Lancaster
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 5:27 PM

    Thanks. Looks like marrying into money is the job!

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    Mute Gis Bayertz
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 1:12 PM

    Amazing to see the Chinese up there, would not have been possible 20 years ago.

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    Mute Kevin Mc Garry
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 3:05 PM

    Silvio could throw lots of bunga bunga parties with that money.

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    Mute Eric Edert
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    Mar 3rd 2012, 4:23 PM

    Could they loan me a tenner?

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    Mute Thomas Mc Carthy
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    Mar 4th 2012, 9:49 AM

    Everything that’s wrong with the world, vested interests in politics. Their hardly doing it to be goo public servants.

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    Mute Tony Rodgers
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    Apr 28th 2012, 10:23 PM

    Sultan of Oman seems to be missing – Billionaire in an absolute monarchy.
    King of Swaziland – estimated to be worth over 200 million dollars – active monarchy – absolute also.

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    Mute jimbo
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    Mar 4th 2012, 10:10 AM

    Now these guys combined could wipe out all debts,…lets ask em…

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    Mute phantom duck Nibbler
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    Mar 4th 2012, 3:59 PM

    What a coincidence!

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    Mute Sheila Murphy
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    Mar 4th 2012, 11:11 AM

    I stopped looking at around pic 12 – too disgusted with the amounts of money listed to carry on viewing them……..

    Any chance of a Gallery of the most EFFECTIVE politicians in the world? But I suppose the difficulty with that is how to verify their effectiveness? Or maybe finding enough of them to fill the Gallery…………….

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