![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/corruption-corrupt-system.jpg\")
10. <\/strong>Arnoldo Alem\u00e1n, President of Nicaragua (1997 \u2013 2002)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Arnoldo-Aleman-ex-president.jpg\")
<\/a>Corrupt Leaders – Arnoldo Alem\u00e1n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe was the 81st president of the central American nation and ruled for 5 years.<\/p>\n
Despite the poor state of his country,\u00a0Arnoldo Alem\u00e1n looted millions of dollars and was arrested shortly after his tenor in office, on corruption charges involving\u00a0$100 million of state-owned funds, according to BBC.<\/p>\n
Using shell companies and fraudulent investment accounts in Panama and the United States, Alem\u00e1n was able to launder the nation’s funds which he also spent on the purchase of high-value assets including real estate and certificates of deposit.<\/p>\n
Along with some members of his family and other former ministers, he was convicted of money laundering, fraud, embezzlement and electoral crimes in 2003, and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0Alem\u00e1n was secretly released in January 2009 when a controversial court ruling overturned his corruption charges and set him free.<\/p>\n
His release is said to have been influenced by a secret power-sharing arrangement with the country’s current president, Daniel Ortega.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the only asset recovered so far from the ex-President was the forfeiture and repatriation of approximately $2.7 million of Aleman’s assets to the Nicaraguan government (by the United States) in 2004.<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0Pavlo Lazarenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine (1996 \u2013 1997)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Pavlo-Lazarenko-ex-Prime-Minister-of-Ukraine.jpg\")
Corrupt Leaders – Pavlo Lazarenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe former and 5th prime minister of Ukraine allegedly embezzled\u00a0between $114 – $200 million in his 1 year in office. This was unveiled in an official count by the United Nation showing that $200 million was syphoned by Pavlo Lazarenko (half a million each day).<\/p>\n
He funnelled the funds through various bank accounts in Poland, Switzerland and Antigua, and laundered some of the cash through a shell company in the United States, used to purchase various properties.<\/p>\n
Lazarenko was detained by Swiss authorities in 2008 but released on $3 million surety.<\/p>\n
However, when the Swiss government denied him all immunity, he fled to the United State where he was again arrested for improper entry and was\u00a0subsequently indicted on 53 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, wire fraud, and interstate transportation of stolen property; sentenced to 8 years imprisonment in Decembre 2009 \u00a0by a California court with a fine of over $9 million and forfeit of $22.8 worth of the asset.<\/p>\n
Lazarenko never completed his jail term. He was released from the US federal prison in November 2012 and so far, the Ukraine government is still recovering some of the stolen money left in Liechtenstein (amount unspecified), Antigua and Barbuda ($87.1 million), US ($271 million), Guernsey ($150 million), Lithuania ($29 million) and Switzerland ($5.4 million).<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru (1990 \u2013 2000)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Alberto-Fujimori-President-of-Peru.jpg\")
Corrupt Leaders – Alberto Fujimori<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDescribed as an authoritarian strongman and son of a Japanese immigrant, Alberto Fujimori who was the 45th President of Peru ruled the nation for 10 years.<\/p>\n
Though he was credited for many good deeds such as crushing uprising insurgencies and\u00a0rescuing the country from economic collapse, he allegedly looted over $600 million in public fund.<\/p>\n
When a bribery scandal broke out in 2001 during his third tenure, Fujimori tried to resign via fax but was rejected by the\u00a0country\u2019s Congress who insisted he must be removed by impeachment.<\/p>\n
After four years in exile, he was arrested in 2005 on his way to Chile and extradited back to Peru to face a historical trial and was given a total prison term of 21 years on numerous charges including bribery and graft.<\/p>\n
So far, no asset directly linked to Fujimori has been recovered.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0Jean-Claude Duvalier, President of Haiti (1971 \u2013 1986)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Jean-Claude-Duvalier-president-of-Haiti.jpg\")
Corrupt Leaders – Jean-Claude Duvalier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn his 15-year reign, ex-president of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier and his cronies allegedly amassed between $300 million and $800 million placing him at No. 7 on the list of most corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Duvalier inherited Haiti’s presidency (aged 19) after the death of his father, Fran\u00e7ois “Papa Doc” Duvalier.<\/p>\n
The small country is known as one of the poorest yet the US Commerce Department reported that 64% of the government’s revenue had been misappropriated.<\/p>\n
During his regime, blood bought from Haitian donors for $5 a pint were sold to Americans for $35 a pint including millions funnelled through the sale of narcotics and body parts.<\/p>\n
He was made ‘President for life’ in 1985 after a\u00a0referendum<\/a>\u00a0was supported by 99.9% of the population,\u00a0but\u00a0Duvalier was ousted by an uprising in 1986 and he fled to France where he stayed on self-imposing exile for 25 years.<\/p>\nThe deserter was promptly arrested when he suddenly returned in 2011 and charged with corruption and embezzlement.<\/p>\n
He pleaded not guilty but the case never continued because he died of a heart attack in October 2014 at age 63.<\/p>\n
Assets recovered include\u00a0a case being appealed in Switzerland (of $6.5 million) and\u00a0Duvalier assets held in the name of the Foundation Brouilly.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia\/Yugoslavia (1989 \u2013 2000)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Slobodan-Milosevic-President-of-Serbia.jpe\")
Corrupt Leaders – Slobodan Milosevic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn his 11 years as President of Serbia (1990 – 1997), then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia\u00a0best known for his role in the Yugoslav wars, where he presided over the mayhem and mass murder in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
During his reign, Milosevic allegedly embezzled more than $1 billion and as reported by The Guardian in 2001, Yugoslavia\u2019s central bank speculated that as much as $4 billion had been taken.<\/p>\n
Insiders and his close relatives were believed to have laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through dozens of Cypriot front companies, with the trail pointing to Switzerland, Greece, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Israel, Russia, China, Britain, Liechtenstein and South Africa.<\/p>\n
Marked as one of the most corrupt leaders in the world, Milosevic never lived through his court trial after he was charged with\u00a0embezzlement.<\/p>\n
He was also indicted by\u00a0ICTY for war crimes and crime against humanity.<\/p>\n
After he died of a heart attack in March 2006, there was no asset recovery on record despite the amount allegedly stolen.<\/p>\n
5. Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia (1987 to 2011)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Zine-Al-Abidine-Ben-Ali.jpg\")
Corrupt Leaders – Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBen Ali became Tunisia’s second president in November 1987 after he ousted\u00a0President\u00a0Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup and went ahead to rule the African country for 23 years straight – a time he allegedly embezzled between $1 billion to $2.6 billion marking him as No. 5 on the list of most corrupt leaders in the world.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, under his administration, the country recorded 5% growth in GDP. Despite his efforts in halving the country’s poverty rate (from 7.4% in 1990 to an estimated 3.8% in 2005), there was a high rate of unemployment,\u00a0disenfranchised rural and urban poor, and continued repression.<\/p>\n
This lead to increasing unrest and one bizarre case was that of 26-year old who set himself ablaze after local policemen harassed him.<\/p>\n
The incident provoked a mass protest, forcing Ben Ali and his wife to flee the country to seek asylum in Saudi Arabia (the same city Idi Amin of Uganda lived in exile before his death in 2003) where they currently live.<\/p>\n
An investigation into Ben Ali’s wealth resulted in the new government confiscating\u00a0his assets and that of 114 members of his clan including,\u00a0 550 properties, 48 boats, 40 share portfolios, 367 bank accounts and over 400 enterprises – all valued at $13 billion reported to be more than one-quarter of Tunisia’s 2011 GDP.<\/p>\n
Ben Ali and his wife were convicted in a Tunisia court in absentia and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Charges against them include\u00a0theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewellery. His wife, Leila Trabelsi allegedly fled the country with over one-and-a-half tonnes of gold<\/a>\u00a0valued at $50 million.<\/p>\nSo far,\u00a0funds totalling $68.8 million have been returned:\u00a0$28.8 million from Lebanon (being the proceeds from a bank account held in the name of Ben Ali\u2019s wife), and $40 million from Switzerland.<\/p>\n
4. Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (1993 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Sani-Abacha.jpg\")
Corrupt Leaders – Sani Abacha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAbacha was Nigeria’s 7th military ruler as well as the first Nigerian soldier to make full General without missing a single rank. Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekan in August 1993.<\/p>\n
Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekanon in August 1993.<\/p>\n
He ruled the country for 5 years and allegedly embezzled as much as\u00a0$2 billion to $5 billion while in office.<\/p>\n
Despite promising a return to democracy, his actions were\u00a0autocratic.<\/p>\n
The court and the press were all under his control as well the military – an armed force of between 2,000 to 3,000 men guarded the presidential villa, hence political activities were banned.<\/p>\n
Despite his anti-democratic reign, Abacha’s years as military president was described as a miracle. External debt was a record low – from $36 billion to $27 billion, foreign-exchange reserves increased from $494 million to $9.6 billion, and inflation was slashed from 54% to 8.5%.<\/p>\n
Sani Abacha died in Abuja of a suspected heart attack in June 1998, notably, three months after Pope John Paull II visited Nigeria for Beatification of\u00a0Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.<\/p>\n
Return of the looted assets stashed in foreign banks is marked as the most successful, unlike the other corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Till date, over $2.5 billion has been returned from\u00a0Switzerland and US. More\u00a0cases are still pending in the Bahamas, Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n
3. Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire now Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (1965 \u2013 1997)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Mobutu-Sese-Seko-Congo-President.jpg\")
Corrupt Leaders – Mobutu Sese Seko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMobutu Sese Seko can be described as Africa’s most corrupt leader notoriously known for instigating a coup,\u00a0one of which placed him as Congo’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, after he ousted the country’s first\u00a0democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba during the\u00a01960 Congo Crises.<\/p>\n
Five years later, he led the second coup that installed him as the country’s President.<\/p>\n
During his 32 years in office, he allegedly embezzled over $4 billion to $5 billion and his negligent administration drowned the country into\u00a0hyperinflation (4,000% p.a. by 1991), a large external debt, and massive currency devaluations.<\/p>\n
Seko’s excesses were so legendary that he paid the world-renowned chef, Gaston Len\u00f4tre to personally deliver his birthday cake direct from Paris; encouraged\u00a0systemic corruption; hosted the heavyweight world championship title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa in October 1974 – known as the \u2018Rumble in the Jungle\u2019<\/a>, each fighter was paid $5 million for their appearance.<\/p>\nAlready terminally ill, he finally relinquishes power in May 1996 during an uprising against his administration and fled to Togo and then to Morocco, where he died from prostate cancer\u00a0in 1997.<\/p>\n
None of his assets stashed in foreign banks was ever returned to Congo. The\u00a0$6.68 million worth of Mobutu\u2019s assets released by\u00a0Switzerland in 2009 was handed back to his family due to lack of cooperation by\u00a0DRC government, who’s Deputy Prime Minister was one of Mobutu’s sons.<\/p>\n
2. Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (1965 \u2013 1986)
\n<\/a><\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Ferdinand-Marcos-President-of-the-Philippines.jpg\")
Corrupt Leaders – Ferdinand Marcos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLabelled one of the world’s most corrupt leaders, Marcos was elected the 10th President of the Philippine\u2019s in 1965 and ruled the country for 21 years. In his years in office, he allegedly embezzled between $5 billion and $10 billion accumulated through six key channels:<\/p>\n
\n- the takeover of large private enterprises;<\/li>\n
- creation of state-owned monopolies in key sectors of the economy;<\/li>\n
- awarding of government loans to private individuals acting as fronts for him or his associates;<\/li>\n
- directly raiding the country\u2019s treasury and other government financial institutions;<\/li>\n
- kickbacks and commissions from firms working in the Philippines;<\/li>\n
- and skimming off foreign aid and other forms of international assistance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The proceeds were reportedly laundered through shell corporations, then invested in real estate within the United States; or deposited into various domestic and offshore banking institutions, using a mixture of pseudonyms, numbered accounts and code names.<\/p>\n
After Marcos went into exile, a raid at the Malacanang Palace in Manila exposed the family’s lavishing lifestyle.<\/p>\n
An inventory of assets discovered includes over a thousand pairs of shoes belonging to the First Lady, 888 handbags, 71 pairs of sunglasses and 65 parasols.<\/p>\n
A quasi-judicial agency (PCGG) established by the govt of Philippines in 1986 to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated during the Marcos regime, has so far, managed to recover nearly $3.6 billion in assets, including $688 million released by Switzerland in 2004.<\/p>\n
1. Mohamed Suharto, President of Indonesia (1967 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\n![\"Corrupt](\"https:\/\/buzznigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Mohamed-Suharto-President-of-Indonesia-1.jpg\")
Corrupt Leaders – Mohamed Suharto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe ruled Indonesia for 31 years, Suharto tops the list of most corrupt leaders of all time with\u00a0an amassed fortune of between $15 billion and $35 billion.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Suharto became Indonesia’s second president after a failed left-wing\u00a0coup.<\/p>\n
During his tenure, the country enjoyed economic growth and a strong anti-Communist stance won him economic and diplomatic support from the West.<\/p>\n
The country’s\u00a0GNP averaged a 6.7% per annum, with GDP increasing from $806 to $4,114 per capita, bringing poverty rate down to 11% in 1997 (from 45% in 1970), life expectancy was 67 years (up from 47 years in 1966), infant mortality was cut by more than 60%, and the country had reached rice self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n
While his achievement earned him a gold medal from FAO, there was\u00a0a rapid expansion of what the country dubbed KKN –\u00a0Korupsi (corruption), Kolusi (collusion) and Nepotism\u00a0(nepotism).<\/p>\n
<\/a>He was the 81st president of the central American nation and ruled for 5 years.<\/p>\n
Despite the poor state of his country,\u00a0Arnoldo Alem\u00e1n looted millions of dollars and was arrested shortly after his tenor in office, on corruption charges involving\u00a0$100 million of state-owned funds, according to BBC.<\/p>\n
Using shell companies and fraudulent investment accounts in Panama and the United States, Alem\u00e1n was able to launder the nation’s funds which he also spent on the purchase of high-value assets including real estate and certificates of deposit.<\/p>\n
Along with some members of his family and other former ministers, he was convicted of money laundering, fraud, embezzlement and electoral crimes in 2003, and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0Alem\u00e1n was secretly released in January 2009 when a controversial court ruling overturned his corruption charges and set him free.<\/p>\n
His release is said to have been influenced by a secret power-sharing arrangement with the country’s current president, Daniel Ortega.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the only asset recovered so far from the ex-President was the forfeiture and repatriation of approximately $2.7 million of Aleman’s assets to the Nicaraguan government (by the United States) in 2004.<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0Pavlo Lazarenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine (1996 \u2013 1997)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Pavlo Lazarenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe former and 5th prime minister of Ukraine allegedly embezzled\u00a0between $114 – $200 million in his 1 year in office. This was unveiled in an official count by the United Nation showing that $200 million was syphoned by Pavlo Lazarenko (half a million each day).<\/p>\n
He funnelled the funds through various bank accounts in Poland, Switzerland and Antigua, and laundered some of the cash through a shell company in the United States, used to purchase various properties.<\/p>\n
Lazarenko was detained by Swiss authorities in 2008 but released on $3 million surety.<\/p>\n
However, when the Swiss government denied him all immunity, he fled to the United State where he was again arrested for improper entry and was\u00a0subsequently indicted on 53 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, wire fraud, and interstate transportation of stolen property; sentenced to 8 years imprisonment in Decembre 2009 \u00a0by a California court with a fine of over $9 million and forfeit of $22.8 worth of the asset.<\/p>\n
Lazarenko never completed his jail term. He was released from the US federal prison in November 2012 and so far, the Ukraine government is still recovering some of the stolen money left in Liechtenstein (amount unspecified), Antigua and Barbuda ($87.1 million), US ($271 million), Guernsey ($150 million), Lithuania ($29 million) and Switzerland ($5.4 million).<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru (1990 \u2013 2000)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Alberto Fujimori<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDescribed as an authoritarian strongman and son of a Japanese immigrant, Alberto Fujimori who was the 45th President of Peru ruled the nation for 10 years.<\/p>\n
Though he was credited for many good deeds such as crushing uprising insurgencies and\u00a0rescuing the country from economic collapse, he allegedly looted over $600 million in public fund.<\/p>\n
When a bribery scandal broke out in 2001 during his third tenure, Fujimori tried to resign via fax but was rejected by the\u00a0country\u2019s Congress who insisted he must be removed by impeachment.<\/p>\n
After four years in exile, he was arrested in 2005 on his way to Chile and extradited back to Peru to face a historical trial and was given a total prison term of 21 years on numerous charges including bribery and graft.<\/p>\n
So far, no asset directly linked to Fujimori has been recovered.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0Jean-Claude Duvalier, President of Haiti (1971 \u2013 1986)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Jean-Claude Duvalier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn his 15-year reign, ex-president of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier and his cronies allegedly amassed between $300 million and $800 million placing him at No. 7 on the list of most corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Duvalier inherited Haiti’s presidency (aged 19) after the death of his father, Fran\u00e7ois “Papa Doc” Duvalier.<\/p>\n
The small country is known as one of the poorest yet the US Commerce Department reported that 64% of the government’s revenue had been misappropriated.<\/p>\n
During his regime, blood bought from Haitian donors for $5 a pint were sold to Americans for $35 a pint including millions funnelled through the sale of narcotics and body parts.<\/p>\n
He was made ‘President for life’ in 1985 after a\u00a0referendum<\/a>\u00a0was supported by 99.9% of the population,\u00a0but\u00a0Duvalier was ousted by an uprising in 1986 and he fled to France where he stayed on self-imposing exile for 25 years.<\/p>\nThe deserter was promptly arrested when he suddenly returned in 2011 and charged with corruption and embezzlement.<\/p>\n
He pleaded not guilty but the case never continued because he died of a heart attack in October 2014 at age 63.<\/p>\n
Assets recovered include\u00a0a case being appealed in Switzerland (of $6.5 million) and\u00a0Duvalier assets held in the name of the Foundation Brouilly.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia\/Yugoslavia (1989 \u2013 2000)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Slobodan Milosevic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn his 11 years as President of Serbia (1990 – 1997), then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia\u00a0best known for his role in the Yugoslav wars, where he presided over the mayhem and mass murder in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
During his reign, Milosevic allegedly embezzled more than $1 billion and as reported by The Guardian in 2001, Yugoslavia\u2019s central bank speculated that as much as $4 billion had been taken.<\/p>\n
Insiders and his close relatives were believed to have laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through dozens of Cypriot front companies, with the trail pointing to Switzerland, Greece, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Israel, Russia, China, Britain, Liechtenstein and South Africa.<\/p>\n
Marked as one of the most corrupt leaders in the world, Milosevic never lived through his court trial after he was charged with\u00a0embezzlement.<\/p>\n
He was also indicted by\u00a0ICTY for war crimes and crime against humanity.<\/p>\n
After he died of a heart attack in March 2006, there was no asset recovery on record despite the amount allegedly stolen.<\/p>\n
5. Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia (1987 to 2011)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBen Ali became Tunisia’s second president in November 1987 after he ousted\u00a0President\u00a0Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup and went ahead to rule the African country for 23 years straight – a time he allegedly embezzled between $1 billion to $2.6 billion marking him as No. 5 on the list of most corrupt leaders in the world.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, under his administration, the country recorded 5% growth in GDP. Despite his efforts in halving the country’s poverty rate (from 7.4% in 1990 to an estimated 3.8% in 2005), there was a high rate of unemployment,\u00a0disenfranchised rural and urban poor, and continued repression.<\/p>\n
This lead to increasing unrest and one bizarre case was that of 26-year old who set himself ablaze after local policemen harassed him.<\/p>\n
The incident provoked a mass protest, forcing Ben Ali and his wife to flee the country to seek asylum in Saudi Arabia (the same city Idi Amin of Uganda lived in exile before his death in 2003) where they currently live.<\/p>\n
An investigation into Ben Ali’s wealth resulted in the new government confiscating\u00a0his assets and that of 114 members of his clan including,\u00a0 550 properties, 48 boats, 40 share portfolios, 367 bank accounts and over 400 enterprises – all valued at $13 billion reported to be more than one-quarter of Tunisia’s 2011 GDP.<\/p>\n
Ben Ali and his wife were convicted in a Tunisia court in absentia and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Charges against them include\u00a0theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewellery. His wife, Leila Trabelsi allegedly fled the country with over one-and-a-half tonnes of gold<\/a>\u00a0valued at $50 million.<\/p>\nSo far,\u00a0funds totalling $68.8 million have been returned:\u00a0$28.8 million from Lebanon (being the proceeds from a bank account held in the name of Ben Ali\u2019s wife), and $40 million from Switzerland.<\/p>\n
4. Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (1993 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Sani Abacha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAbacha was Nigeria’s 7th military ruler as well as the first Nigerian soldier to make full General without missing a single rank. Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekan in August 1993.<\/p>\n
Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekanon in August 1993.<\/p>\n
He ruled the country for 5 years and allegedly embezzled as much as\u00a0$2 billion to $5 billion while in office.<\/p>\n
Despite promising a return to democracy, his actions were\u00a0autocratic.<\/p>\n
The court and the press were all under his control as well the military – an armed force of between 2,000 to 3,000 men guarded the presidential villa, hence political activities were banned.<\/p>\n
Despite his anti-democratic reign, Abacha’s years as military president was described as a miracle. External debt was a record low – from $36 billion to $27 billion, foreign-exchange reserves increased from $494 million to $9.6 billion, and inflation was slashed from 54% to 8.5%.<\/p>\n
Sani Abacha died in Abuja of a suspected heart attack in June 1998, notably, three months after Pope John Paull II visited Nigeria for Beatification of\u00a0Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.<\/p>\n
Return of the looted assets stashed in foreign banks is marked as the most successful, unlike the other corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Till date, over $2.5 billion has been returned from\u00a0Switzerland and US. More\u00a0cases are still pending in the Bahamas, Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n
3. Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire now Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (1965 \u2013 1997)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Mobutu Sese Seko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMobutu Sese Seko can be described as Africa’s most corrupt leader notoriously known for instigating a coup,\u00a0one of which placed him as Congo’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, after he ousted the country’s first\u00a0democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba during the\u00a01960 Congo Crises.<\/p>\n
Five years later, he led the second coup that installed him as the country’s President.<\/p>\n
During his 32 years in office, he allegedly embezzled over $4 billion to $5 billion and his negligent administration drowned the country into\u00a0hyperinflation (4,000% p.a. by 1991), a large external debt, and massive currency devaluations.<\/p>\n
Seko’s excesses were so legendary that he paid the world-renowned chef, Gaston Len\u00f4tre to personally deliver his birthday cake direct from Paris; encouraged\u00a0systemic corruption; hosted the heavyweight world championship title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa in October 1974 – known as the \u2018Rumble in the Jungle\u2019<\/a>, each fighter was paid $5 million for their appearance.<\/p>\nAlready terminally ill, he finally relinquishes power in May 1996 during an uprising against his administration and fled to Togo and then to Morocco, where he died from prostate cancer\u00a0in 1997.<\/p>\n
None of his assets stashed in foreign banks was ever returned to Congo. The\u00a0$6.68 million worth of Mobutu\u2019s assets released by\u00a0Switzerland in 2009 was handed back to his family due to lack of cooperation by\u00a0DRC government, who’s Deputy Prime Minister was one of Mobutu’s sons.<\/p>\n
2. Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (1965 \u2013 1986)
\n<\/a><\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Ferdinand Marcos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLabelled one of the world’s most corrupt leaders, Marcos was elected the 10th President of the Philippine\u2019s in 1965 and ruled the country for 21 years. In his years in office, he allegedly embezzled between $5 billion and $10 billion accumulated through six key channels:<\/p>\n
\n- the takeover of large private enterprises;<\/li>\n
- creation of state-owned monopolies in key sectors of the economy;<\/li>\n
- awarding of government loans to private individuals acting as fronts for him or his associates;<\/li>\n
- directly raiding the country\u2019s treasury and other government financial institutions;<\/li>\n
- kickbacks and commissions from firms working in the Philippines;<\/li>\n
- and skimming off foreign aid and other forms of international assistance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The proceeds were reportedly laundered through shell corporations, then invested in real estate within the United States; or deposited into various domestic and offshore banking institutions, using a mixture of pseudonyms, numbered accounts and code names.<\/p>\n
After Marcos went into exile, a raid at the Malacanang Palace in Manila exposed the family’s lavishing lifestyle.<\/p>\n
An inventory of assets discovered includes over a thousand pairs of shoes belonging to the First Lady, 888 handbags, 71 pairs of sunglasses and 65 parasols.<\/p>\n
A quasi-judicial agency (PCGG) established by the govt of Philippines in 1986 to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated during the Marcos regime, has so far, managed to recover nearly $3.6 billion in assets, including $688 million released by Switzerland in 2004.<\/p>\n
1. Mohamed Suharto, President of Indonesia (1967 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Mohamed Suharto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe ruled Indonesia for 31 years, Suharto tops the list of most corrupt leaders of all time with\u00a0an amassed fortune of between $15 billion and $35 billion.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Suharto became Indonesia’s second president after a failed left-wing\u00a0coup.<\/p>\n
During his tenure, the country enjoyed economic growth and a strong anti-Communist stance won him economic and diplomatic support from the West.<\/p>\n
The country’s\u00a0GNP averaged a 6.7% per annum, with GDP increasing from $806 to $4,114 per capita, bringing poverty rate down to 11% in 1997 (from 45% in 1970), life expectancy was 67 years (up from 47 years in 1966), infant mortality was cut by more than 60%, and the country had reached rice self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n
While his achievement earned him a gold medal from FAO, there was\u00a0a rapid expansion of what the country dubbed KKN –\u00a0Korupsi (corruption), Kolusi (collusion) and Nepotism\u00a0(nepotism).<\/p>\n
The former and 5th prime minister of Ukraine allegedly embezzled\u00a0between $114 – $200 million in his 1 year in office. This was unveiled in an official count by the United Nation showing that $200 million was syphoned by Pavlo Lazarenko (half a million each day).<\/p>\n
He funnelled the funds through various bank accounts in Poland, Switzerland and Antigua, and laundered some of the cash through a shell company in the United States, used to purchase various properties.<\/p>\n
Lazarenko was detained by Swiss authorities in 2008 but released on $3 million surety.<\/p>\n
However, when the Swiss government denied him all immunity, he fled to the United State where he was again arrested for improper entry and was\u00a0subsequently indicted on 53 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, wire fraud, and interstate transportation of stolen property; sentenced to 8 years imprisonment in Decembre 2009 \u00a0by a California court with a fine of over $9 million and forfeit of $22.8 worth of the asset.<\/p>\n
Lazarenko never completed his jail term. He was released from the US federal prison in November 2012 and so far, the Ukraine government is still recovering some of the stolen money left in Liechtenstein (amount unspecified), Antigua and Barbuda ($87.1 million), US ($271 million), Guernsey ($150 million), Lithuania ($29 million) and Switzerland ($5.4 million).<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru (1990 \u2013 2000)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Alberto Fujimori<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDescribed as an authoritarian strongman and son of a Japanese immigrant, Alberto Fujimori who was the 45th President of Peru ruled the nation for 10 years.<\/p>\n
Though he was credited for many good deeds such as crushing uprising insurgencies and\u00a0rescuing the country from economic collapse, he allegedly looted over $600 million in public fund.<\/p>\n
When a bribery scandal broke out in 2001 during his third tenure, Fujimori tried to resign via fax but was rejected by the\u00a0country\u2019s Congress who insisted he must be removed by impeachment.<\/p>\n
After four years in exile, he was arrested in 2005 on his way to Chile and extradited back to Peru to face a historical trial and was given a total prison term of 21 years on numerous charges including bribery and graft.<\/p>\n
So far, no asset directly linked to Fujimori has been recovered.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0Jean-Claude Duvalier, President of Haiti (1971 \u2013 1986)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Jean-Claude Duvalier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn his 15-year reign, ex-president of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier and his cronies allegedly amassed between $300 million and $800 million placing him at No. 7 on the list of most corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Duvalier inherited Haiti’s presidency (aged 19) after the death of his father, Fran\u00e7ois “Papa Doc” Duvalier.<\/p>\n
The small country is known as one of the poorest yet the US Commerce Department reported that 64% of the government’s revenue had been misappropriated.<\/p>\n
During his regime, blood bought from Haitian donors for $5 a pint were sold to Americans for $35 a pint including millions funnelled through the sale of narcotics and body parts.<\/p>\n
He was made ‘President for life’ in 1985 after a\u00a0referendum<\/a>\u00a0was supported by 99.9% of the population,\u00a0but\u00a0Duvalier was ousted by an uprising in 1986 and he fled to France where he stayed on self-imposing exile for 25 years.<\/p>\nThe deserter was promptly arrested when he suddenly returned in 2011 and charged with corruption and embezzlement.<\/p>\n
He pleaded not guilty but the case never continued because he died of a heart attack in October 2014 at age 63.<\/p>\n
Assets recovered include\u00a0a case being appealed in Switzerland (of $6.5 million) and\u00a0Duvalier assets held in the name of the Foundation Brouilly.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia\/Yugoslavia (1989 \u2013 2000)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Slobodan Milosevic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn his 11 years as President of Serbia (1990 – 1997), then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia\u00a0best known for his role in the Yugoslav wars, where he presided over the mayhem and mass murder in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
During his reign, Milosevic allegedly embezzled more than $1 billion and as reported by The Guardian in 2001, Yugoslavia\u2019s central bank speculated that as much as $4 billion had been taken.<\/p>\n
Insiders and his close relatives were believed to have laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through dozens of Cypriot front companies, with the trail pointing to Switzerland, Greece, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Israel, Russia, China, Britain, Liechtenstein and South Africa.<\/p>\n
Marked as one of the most corrupt leaders in the world, Milosevic never lived through his court trial after he was charged with\u00a0embezzlement.<\/p>\n
He was also indicted by\u00a0ICTY for war crimes and crime against humanity.<\/p>\n
After he died of a heart attack in March 2006, there was no asset recovery on record despite the amount allegedly stolen.<\/p>\n
5. Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia (1987 to 2011)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBen Ali became Tunisia’s second president in November 1987 after he ousted\u00a0President\u00a0Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup and went ahead to rule the African country for 23 years straight – a time he allegedly embezzled between $1 billion to $2.6 billion marking him as No. 5 on the list of most corrupt leaders in the world.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, under his administration, the country recorded 5% growth in GDP. Despite his efforts in halving the country’s poverty rate (from 7.4% in 1990 to an estimated 3.8% in 2005), there was a high rate of unemployment,\u00a0disenfranchised rural and urban poor, and continued repression.<\/p>\n
This lead to increasing unrest and one bizarre case was that of 26-year old who set himself ablaze after local policemen harassed him.<\/p>\n
The incident provoked a mass protest, forcing Ben Ali and his wife to flee the country to seek asylum in Saudi Arabia (the same city Idi Amin of Uganda lived in exile before his death in 2003) where they currently live.<\/p>\n
An investigation into Ben Ali’s wealth resulted in the new government confiscating\u00a0his assets and that of 114 members of his clan including,\u00a0 550 properties, 48 boats, 40 share portfolios, 367 bank accounts and over 400 enterprises – all valued at $13 billion reported to be more than one-quarter of Tunisia’s 2011 GDP.<\/p>\n
Ben Ali and his wife were convicted in a Tunisia court in absentia and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Charges against them include\u00a0theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewellery. His wife, Leila Trabelsi allegedly fled the country with over one-and-a-half tonnes of gold<\/a>\u00a0valued at $50 million.<\/p>\nSo far,\u00a0funds totalling $68.8 million have been returned:\u00a0$28.8 million from Lebanon (being the proceeds from a bank account held in the name of Ben Ali\u2019s wife), and $40 million from Switzerland.<\/p>\n
4. Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (1993 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Sani Abacha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAbacha was Nigeria’s 7th military ruler as well as the first Nigerian soldier to make full General without missing a single rank. Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekan in August 1993.<\/p>\n
Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekanon in August 1993.<\/p>\n
He ruled the country for 5 years and allegedly embezzled as much as\u00a0$2 billion to $5 billion while in office.<\/p>\n
Despite promising a return to democracy, his actions were\u00a0autocratic.<\/p>\n
The court and the press were all under his control as well the military – an armed force of between 2,000 to 3,000 men guarded the presidential villa, hence political activities were banned.<\/p>\n
Despite his anti-democratic reign, Abacha’s years as military president was described as a miracle. External debt was a record low – from $36 billion to $27 billion, foreign-exchange reserves increased from $494 million to $9.6 billion, and inflation was slashed from 54% to 8.5%.<\/p>\n
Sani Abacha died in Abuja of a suspected heart attack in June 1998, notably, three months after Pope John Paull II visited Nigeria for Beatification of\u00a0Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.<\/p>\n
Return of the looted assets stashed in foreign banks is marked as the most successful, unlike the other corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Till date, over $2.5 billion has been returned from\u00a0Switzerland and US. More\u00a0cases are still pending in the Bahamas, Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n
3. Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire now Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (1965 \u2013 1997)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Mobutu Sese Seko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMobutu Sese Seko can be described as Africa’s most corrupt leader notoriously known for instigating a coup,\u00a0one of which placed him as Congo’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, after he ousted the country’s first\u00a0democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba during the\u00a01960 Congo Crises.<\/p>\n
Five years later, he led the second coup that installed him as the country’s President.<\/p>\n
During his 32 years in office, he allegedly embezzled over $4 billion to $5 billion and his negligent administration drowned the country into\u00a0hyperinflation (4,000% p.a. by 1991), a large external debt, and massive currency devaluations.<\/p>\n
Seko’s excesses were so legendary that he paid the world-renowned chef, Gaston Len\u00f4tre to personally deliver his birthday cake direct from Paris; encouraged\u00a0systemic corruption; hosted the heavyweight world championship title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa in October 1974 – known as the \u2018Rumble in the Jungle\u2019<\/a>, each fighter was paid $5 million for their appearance.<\/p>\nAlready terminally ill, he finally relinquishes power in May 1996 during an uprising against his administration and fled to Togo and then to Morocco, where he died from prostate cancer\u00a0in 1997.<\/p>\n
None of his assets stashed in foreign banks was ever returned to Congo. The\u00a0$6.68 million worth of Mobutu\u2019s assets released by\u00a0Switzerland in 2009 was handed back to his family due to lack of cooperation by\u00a0DRC government, who’s Deputy Prime Minister was one of Mobutu’s sons.<\/p>\n
2. Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (1965 \u2013 1986)
\n<\/a><\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Ferdinand Marcos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLabelled one of the world’s most corrupt leaders, Marcos was elected the 10th President of the Philippine\u2019s in 1965 and ruled the country for 21 years. In his years in office, he allegedly embezzled between $5 billion and $10 billion accumulated through six key channels:<\/p>\n
\n- the takeover of large private enterprises;<\/li>\n
- creation of state-owned monopolies in key sectors of the economy;<\/li>\n
- awarding of government loans to private individuals acting as fronts for him or his associates;<\/li>\n
- directly raiding the country\u2019s treasury and other government financial institutions;<\/li>\n
- kickbacks and commissions from firms working in the Philippines;<\/li>\n
- and skimming off foreign aid and other forms of international assistance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The proceeds were reportedly laundered through shell corporations, then invested in real estate within the United States; or deposited into various domestic and offshore banking institutions, using a mixture of pseudonyms, numbered accounts and code names.<\/p>\n
After Marcos went into exile, a raid at the Malacanang Palace in Manila exposed the family’s lavishing lifestyle.<\/p>\n
An inventory of assets discovered includes over a thousand pairs of shoes belonging to the First Lady, 888 handbags, 71 pairs of sunglasses and 65 parasols.<\/p>\n
A quasi-judicial agency (PCGG) established by the govt of Philippines in 1986 to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated during the Marcos regime, has so far, managed to recover nearly $3.6 billion in assets, including $688 million released by Switzerland in 2004.<\/p>\n
1. Mohamed Suharto, President of Indonesia (1967 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Mohamed Suharto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe ruled Indonesia for 31 years, Suharto tops the list of most corrupt leaders of all time with\u00a0an amassed fortune of between $15 billion and $35 billion.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Suharto became Indonesia’s second president after a failed left-wing\u00a0coup.<\/p>\n
During his tenure, the country enjoyed economic growth and a strong anti-Communist stance won him economic and diplomatic support from the West.<\/p>\n
The country’s\u00a0GNP averaged a 6.7% per annum, with GDP increasing from $806 to $4,114 per capita, bringing poverty rate down to 11% in 1997 (from 45% in 1970), life expectancy was 67 years (up from 47 years in 1966), infant mortality was cut by more than 60%, and the country had reached rice self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n
While his achievement earned him a gold medal from FAO, there was\u00a0a rapid expansion of what the country dubbed KKN –\u00a0Korupsi (corruption), Kolusi (collusion) and Nepotism\u00a0(nepotism).<\/p>\n
Described as an authoritarian strongman and son of a Japanese immigrant, Alberto Fujimori who was the 45th President of Peru ruled the nation for 10 years.<\/p>\n
Though he was credited for many good deeds such as crushing uprising insurgencies and\u00a0rescuing the country from economic collapse, he allegedly looted over $600 million in public fund.<\/p>\n
When a bribery scandal broke out in 2001 during his third tenure, Fujimori tried to resign via fax but was rejected by the\u00a0country\u2019s Congress who insisted he must be removed by impeachment.<\/p>\n
After four years in exile, he was arrested in 2005 on his way to Chile and extradited back to Peru to face a historical trial and was given a total prison term of 21 years on numerous charges including bribery and graft.<\/p>\n
So far, no asset directly linked to Fujimori has been recovered.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0Jean-Claude Duvalier, President of Haiti (1971 \u2013 1986)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Jean-Claude Duvalier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn his 15-year reign, ex-president of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier and his cronies allegedly amassed between $300 million and $800 million placing him at No. 7 on the list of most corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Duvalier inherited Haiti’s presidency (aged 19) after the death of his father, Fran\u00e7ois “Papa Doc” Duvalier.<\/p>\n
The small country is known as one of the poorest yet the US Commerce Department reported that 64% of the government’s revenue had been misappropriated.<\/p>\n
During his regime, blood bought from Haitian donors for $5 a pint were sold to Americans for $35 a pint including millions funnelled through the sale of narcotics and body parts.<\/p>\n
He was made ‘President for life’ in 1985 after a\u00a0referendum<\/a>\u00a0was supported by 99.9% of the population,\u00a0but\u00a0Duvalier was ousted by an uprising in 1986 and he fled to France where he stayed on self-imposing exile for 25 years.<\/p>\nThe deserter was promptly arrested when he suddenly returned in 2011 and charged with corruption and embezzlement.<\/p>\n
He pleaded not guilty but the case never continued because he died of a heart attack in October 2014 at age 63.<\/p>\n
Assets recovered include\u00a0a case being appealed in Switzerland (of $6.5 million) and\u00a0Duvalier assets held in the name of the Foundation Brouilly.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia\/Yugoslavia (1989 \u2013 2000)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Slobodan Milosevic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn his 11 years as President of Serbia (1990 – 1997), then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia\u00a0best known for his role in the Yugoslav wars, where he presided over the mayhem and mass murder in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
During his reign, Milosevic allegedly embezzled more than $1 billion and as reported by The Guardian in 2001, Yugoslavia\u2019s central bank speculated that as much as $4 billion had been taken.<\/p>\n
Insiders and his close relatives were believed to have laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through dozens of Cypriot front companies, with the trail pointing to Switzerland, Greece, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Israel, Russia, China, Britain, Liechtenstein and South Africa.<\/p>\n
Marked as one of the most corrupt leaders in the world, Milosevic never lived through his court trial after he was charged with\u00a0embezzlement.<\/p>\n
He was also indicted by\u00a0ICTY for war crimes and crime against humanity.<\/p>\n
After he died of a heart attack in March 2006, there was no asset recovery on record despite the amount allegedly stolen.<\/p>\n
5. Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia (1987 to 2011)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBen Ali became Tunisia’s second president in November 1987 after he ousted\u00a0President\u00a0Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup and went ahead to rule the African country for 23 years straight – a time he allegedly embezzled between $1 billion to $2.6 billion marking him as No. 5 on the list of most corrupt leaders in the world.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, under his administration, the country recorded 5% growth in GDP. Despite his efforts in halving the country’s poverty rate (from 7.4% in 1990 to an estimated 3.8% in 2005), there was a high rate of unemployment,\u00a0disenfranchised rural and urban poor, and continued repression.<\/p>\n
This lead to increasing unrest and one bizarre case was that of 26-year old who set himself ablaze after local policemen harassed him.<\/p>\n
The incident provoked a mass protest, forcing Ben Ali and his wife to flee the country to seek asylum in Saudi Arabia (the same city Idi Amin of Uganda lived in exile before his death in 2003) where they currently live.<\/p>\n
An investigation into Ben Ali’s wealth resulted in the new government confiscating\u00a0his assets and that of 114 members of his clan including,\u00a0 550 properties, 48 boats, 40 share portfolios, 367 bank accounts and over 400 enterprises – all valued at $13 billion reported to be more than one-quarter of Tunisia’s 2011 GDP.<\/p>\n
Ben Ali and his wife were convicted in a Tunisia court in absentia and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Charges against them include\u00a0theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewellery. His wife, Leila Trabelsi allegedly fled the country with over one-and-a-half tonnes of gold<\/a>\u00a0valued at $50 million.<\/p>\nSo far,\u00a0funds totalling $68.8 million have been returned:\u00a0$28.8 million from Lebanon (being the proceeds from a bank account held in the name of Ben Ali\u2019s wife), and $40 million from Switzerland.<\/p>\n
4. Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (1993 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Sani Abacha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAbacha was Nigeria’s 7th military ruler as well as the first Nigerian soldier to make full General without missing a single rank. Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekan in August 1993.<\/p>\n
Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekanon in August 1993.<\/p>\n
He ruled the country for 5 years and allegedly embezzled as much as\u00a0$2 billion to $5 billion while in office.<\/p>\n
Despite promising a return to democracy, his actions were\u00a0autocratic.<\/p>\n
The court and the press were all under his control as well the military – an armed force of between 2,000 to 3,000 men guarded the presidential villa, hence political activities were banned.<\/p>\n
Despite his anti-democratic reign, Abacha’s years as military president was described as a miracle. External debt was a record low – from $36 billion to $27 billion, foreign-exchange reserves increased from $494 million to $9.6 billion, and inflation was slashed from 54% to 8.5%.<\/p>\n
Sani Abacha died in Abuja of a suspected heart attack in June 1998, notably, three months after Pope John Paull II visited Nigeria for Beatification of\u00a0Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.<\/p>\n
Return of the looted assets stashed in foreign banks is marked as the most successful, unlike the other corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Till date, over $2.5 billion has been returned from\u00a0Switzerland and US. More\u00a0cases are still pending in the Bahamas, Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n
3. Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire now Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (1965 \u2013 1997)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Mobutu Sese Seko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMobutu Sese Seko can be described as Africa’s most corrupt leader notoriously known for instigating a coup,\u00a0one of which placed him as Congo’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, after he ousted the country’s first\u00a0democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba during the\u00a01960 Congo Crises.<\/p>\n
Five years later, he led the second coup that installed him as the country’s President.<\/p>\n
During his 32 years in office, he allegedly embezzled over $4 billion to $5 billion and his negligent administration drowned the country into\u00a0hyperinflation (4,000% p.a. by 1991), a large external debt, and massive currency devaluations.<\/p>\n
Seko’s excesses were so legendary that he paid the world-renowned chef, Gaston Len\u00f4tre to personally deliver his birthday cake direct from Paris; encouraged\u00a0systemic corruption; hosted the heavyweight world championship title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa in October 1974 – known as the \u2018Rumble in the Jungle\u2019<\/a>, each fighter was paid $5 million for their appearance.<\/p>\nAlready terminally ill, he finally relinquishes power in May 1996 during an uprising against his administration and fled to Togo and then to Morocco, where he died from prostate cancer\u00a0in 1997.<\/p>\n
None of his assets stashed in foreign banks was ever returned to Congo. The\u00a0$6.68 million worth of Mobutu\u2019s assets released by\u00a0Switzerland in 2009 was handed back to his family due to lack of cooperation by\u00a0DRC government, who’s Deputy Prime Minister was one of Mobutu’s sons.<\/p>\n
2. Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (1965 \u2013 1986)
\n<\/a><\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Ferdinand Marcos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLabelled one of the world’s most corrupt leaders, Marcos was elected the 10th President of the Philippine\u2019s in 1965 and ruled the country for 21 years. In his years in office, he allegedly embezzled between $5 billion and $10 billion accumulated through six key channels:<\/p>\n
\n- the takeover of large private enterprises;<\/li>\n
- creation of state-owned monopolies in key sectors of the economy;<\/li>\n
- awarding of government loans to private individuals acting as fronts for him or his associates;<\/li>\n
- directly raiding the country\u2019s treasury and other government financial institutions;<\/li>\n
- kickbacks and commissions from firms working in the Philippines;<\/li>\n
- and skimming off foreign aid and other forms of international assistance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The proceeds were reportedly laundered through shell corporations, then invested in real estate within the United States; or deposited into various domestic and offshore banking institutions, using a mixture of pseudonyms, numbered accounts and code names.<\/p>\n
After Marcos went into exile, a raid at the Malacanang Palace in Manila exposed the family’s lavishing lifestyle.<\/p>\n
An inventory of assets discovered includes over a thousand pairs of shoes belonging to the First Lady, 888 handbags, 71 pairs of sunglasses and 65 parasols.<\/p>\n
A quasi-judicial agency (PCGG) established by the govt of Philippines in 1986 to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated during the Marcos regime, has so far, managed to recover nearly $3.6 billion in assets, including $688 million released by Switzerland in 2004.<\/p>\n
1. Mohamed Suharto, President of Indonesia (1967 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\nCorrupt Leaders – Mohamed Suharto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe ruled Indonesia for 31 years, Suharto tops the list of most corrupt leaders of all time with\u00a0an amassed fortune of between $15 billion and $35 billion.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Suharto became Indonesia’s second president after a failed left-wing\u00a0coup.<\/p>\n
During his tenure, the country enjoyed economic growth and a strong anti-Communist stance won him economic and diplomatic support from the West.<\/p>\n
The country’s\u00a0GNP averaged a 6.7% per annum, with GDP increasing from $806 to $4,114 per capita, bringing poverty rate down to 11% in 1997 (from 45% in 1970), life expectancy was 67 years (up from 47 years in 1966), infant mortality was cut by more than 60%, and the country had reached rice self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n
While his achievement earned him a gold medal from FAO, there was\u00a0a rapid expansion of what the country dubbed KKN –\u00a0Korupsi (corruption), Kolusi (collusion) and Nepotism\u00a0(nepotism).<\/p>\n
In his 15-year reign, ex-president of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier and his cronies allegedly amassed between $300 million and $800 million placing him at No. 7 on the list of most corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n
Duvalier inherited Haiti’s presidency (aged 19) after the death of his father, Fran\u00e7ois “Papa Doc” Duvalier.<\/p>\n
The small country is known as one of the poorest yet the US Commerce Department reported that 64% of the government’s revenue had been misappropriated.<\/p>\n
During his regime, blood bought from Haitian donors for $5 a pint were sold to Americans for $35 a pint including millions funnelled through the sale of narcotics and body parts.<\/p>\n
He was made ‘President for life’ in 1985 after a\u00a0referendum<\/a>\u00a0was supported by 99.9% of the population,\u00a0but\u00a0Duvalier was ousted by an uprising in 1986 and he fled to France where he stayed on self-imposing exile for 25 years.<\/p>\n The deserter was promptly arrested when he suddenly returned in 2011 and charged with corruption and embezzlement.<\/p>\n He pleaded not guilty but the case never continued because he died of a heart attack in October 2014 at age 63.<\/p>\n Assets recovered include\u00a0a case being appealed in Switzerland (of $6.5 million) and\u00a0Duvalier assets held in the name of the Foundation Brouilly.<\/p>\n In his 11 years as President of Serbia (1990 – 1997), then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia\u00a0best known for his role in the Yugoslav wars, where he presided over the mayhem and mass murder in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s.<\/p>\n During his reign, Milosevic allegedly embezzled more than $1 billion and as reported by The Guardian in 2001, Yugoslavia\u2019s central bank speculated that as much as $4 billion had been taken.<\/p>\n Insiders and his close relatives were believed to have laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through dozens of Cypriot front companies, with the trail pointing to Switzerland, Greece, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Israel, Russia, China, Britain, Liechtenstein and South Africa.<\/p>\n Marked as one of the most corrupt leaders in the world, Milosevic never lived through his court trial after he was charged with\u00a0embezzlement.<\/p>\n He was also indicted by\u00a0ICTY for war crimes and crime against humanity.<\/p>\n After he died of a heart attack in March 2006, there was no asset recovery on record despite the amount allegedly stolen.<\/p>\n Ben Ali became Tunisia’s second president in November 1987 after he ousted\u00a0President\u00a0Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup and went ahead to rule the African country for 23 years straight – a time he allegedly embezzled between $1 billion to $2.6 billion marking him as No. 5 on the list of most corrupt leaders in the world.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, under his administration, the country recorded 5% growth in GDP. Despite his efforts in halving the country’s poverty rate (from 7.4% in 1990 to an estimated 3.8% in 2005), there was a high rate of unemployment,\u00a0disenfranchised rural and urban poor, and continued repression.<\/p>\n This lead to increasing unrest and one bizarre case was that of 26-year old who set himself ablaze after local policemen harassed him.<\/p>\n The incident provoked a mass protest, forcing Ben Ali and his wife to flee the country to seek asylum in Saudi Arabia (the same city Idi Amin of Uganda lived in exile before his death in 2003) where they currently live.<\/p>\n An investigation into Ben Ali’s wealth resulted in the new government confiscating\u00a0his assets and that of 114 members of his clan including,\u00a0 550 properties, 48 boats, 40 share portfolios, 367 bank accounts and over 400 enterprises – all valued at $13 billion reported to be more than one-quarter of Tunisia’s 2011 GDP.<\/p>\n Ben Ali and his wife were convicted in a Tunisia court in absentia and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Charges against them include\u00a0theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewellery. His wife, Leila Trabelsi allegedly fled the country with over one-and-a-half tonnes of gold<\/a>\u00a0valued at $50 million.<\/p>\n So far,\u00a0funds totalling $68.8 million have been returned:\u00a0$28.8 million from Lebanon (being the proceeds from a bank account held in the name of Ben Ali\u2019s wife), and $40 million from Switzerland.<\/p>\n Abacha was Nigeria’s 7th military ruler as well as the first Nigerian soldier to make full General without missing a single rank. Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekan in August 1993.<\/p>\n Described as a serial coup d\u2019\u00e9tat instigator, Abacha led the country’s ninth military coup that overthrew the transitional government of Chief\u00a0Ernest Shonekanon in August 1993.<\/p>\n He ruled the country for 5 years and allegedly embezzled as much as\u00a0$2 billion to $5 billion while in office.<\/p>\n Despite promising a return to democracy, his actions were\u00a0autocratic.<\/p>\n The court and the press were all under his control as well the military – an armed force of between 2,000 to 3,000 men guarded the presidential villa, hence political activities were banned.<\/p>\n Despite his anti-democratic reign, Abacha’s years as military president was described as a miracle. External debt was a record low – from $36 billion to $27 billion, foreign-exchange reserves increased from $494 million to $9.6 billion, and inflation was slashed from 54% to 8.5%.<\/p>\n Sani Abacha died in Abuja of a suspected heart attack in June 1998, notably, three months after Pope John Paull II visited Nigeria for Beatification of\u00a0Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.<\/p>\n Return of the looted assets stashed in foreign banks is marked as the most successful, unlike the other corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n Till date, over $2.5 billion has been returned from\u00a0Switzerland and US. More\u00a0cases are still pending in the Bahamas, Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n Mobutu Sese Seko can be described as Africa’s most corrupt leader notoriously known for instigating a coup,\u00a0one of which placed him as Congo’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, after he ousted the country’s first\u00a0democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba during the\u00a01960 Congo Crises.<\/p>\n Five years later, he led the second coup that installed him as the country’s President.<\/p>\n During his 32 years in office, he allegedly embezzled over $4 billion to $5 billion and his negligent administration drowned the country into\u00a0hyperinflation (4,000% p.a. by 1991), a large external debt, and massive currency devaluations.<\/p>\n Seko’s excesses were so legendary that he paid the world-renowned chef, Gaston Len\u00f4tre to personally deliver his birthday cake direct from Paris; encouraged\u00a0systemic corruption; hosted the heavyweight world championship title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa in October 1974 – known as the \u2018Rumble in the Jungle\u2019<\/a>, each fighter was paid $5 million for their appearance.<\/p>\n Already terminally ill, he finally relinquishes power in May 1996 during an uprising against his administration and fled to Togo and then to Morocco, where he died from prostate cancer\u00a0in 1997.<\/p>\n None of his assets stashed in foreign banks was ever returned to Congo. The\u00a0$6.68 million worth of Mobutu\u2019s assets released by\u00a0Switzerland in 2009 was handed back to his family due to lack of cooperation by\u00a0DRC government, who’s Deputy Prime Minister was one of Mobutu’s sons.<\/p>\n Labelled one of the world’s most corrupt leaders, Marcos was elected the 10th President of the Philippine\u2019s in 1965 and ruled the country for 21 years. In his years in office, he allegedly embezzled between $5 billion and $10 billion accumulated through six key channels:<\/p>\n The proceeds were reportedly laundered through shell corporations, then invested in real estate within the United States; or deposited into various domestic and offshore banking institutions, using a mixture of pseudonyms, numbered accounts and code names.<\/p>\n After Marcos went into exile, a raid at the Malacanang Palace in Manila exposed the family’s lavishing lifestyle.<\/p>\n An inventory of assets discovered includes over a thousand pairs of shoes belonging to the First Lady, 888 handbags, 71 pairs of sunglasses and 65 parasols.<\/p>\n A quasi-judicial agency (PCGG) established by the govt of Philippines in 1986 to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated during the Marcos regime, has so far, managed to recover nearly $3.6 billion in assets, including $688 million released by Switzerland in 2004.<\/p>\n He ruled Indonesia for 31 years, Suharto tops the list of most corrupt leaders of all time with\u00a0an amassed fortune of between $15 billion and $35 billion.<\/p>\n Mohamed Suharto became Indonesia’s second president after a failed left-wing\u00a0coup.<\/p>\n During his tenure, the country enjoyed economic growth and a strong anti-Communist stance won him economic and diplomatic support from the West.<\/p>\n The country’s\u00a0GNP averaged a 6.7% per annum, with GDP increasing from $806 to $4,114 per capita, bringing poverty rate down to 11% in 1997 (from 45% in 1970), life expectancy was 67 years (up from 47 years in 1966), infant mortality was cut by more than 60%, and the country had reached rice self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n While his achievement earned him a gold medal from FAO, there was\u00a0a rapid expansion of what the country dubbed KKN –\u00a0Korupsi (corruption), Kolusi (collusion) and Nepotism\u00a0(nepotism).<\/p>\n6.\u00a0Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia\/Yugoslavia (1989 \u2013 2000)<\/h2>\n
5. Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia (1987 to 2011)<\/h2>\n
4. Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (1993 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\n
3. Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire now Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (1965 \u2013 1997)<\/h2>\n
2. Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (1965 \u2013 1986)
\n<\/a><\/h2>\n\n
1. Mohamed Suharto, President of Indonesia (1967 \u2013 1998)<\/h2>\n