A scandal involving a Russian official, and his watch, is just the latest in a string of stories about public figures being quizzed over their costly timepieces - by eagle eyed social media users.

The stories always begin the same way: a seemingly innocuous photograph of an official at a public event is shared online. But savvy web users ignore the event in question, and focus instead on what they are wearing on their wrist. Time and again, they appear to be wearing watches costing many times their annual salary, and accusations of corruption soon flare up online.

1. Dimitry Peskov, spokesman to Vladimir Putin

Over the weekend, a very high profile wedding celebrating the union of Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dimitry Peskov, and former Olympic champion figure skater Tatyana Navka, took place at a Luxurious hotel in Sochi. But it wasn't just the wedding itself or the VIP guest-list that caught the attention of Russians online, it was Peskov's watch.



A photograph of him wearing what appears to be an 18-carat gold Richard Mille watch, worth almost £400,000, raised eyebrows across the internet. The amount "far exceeds" his earnings as a civil servant according to a blog post by opposition activist Alexander Navalny.

"How can the President's spokesperson afford to buy watches valued at four times their annual salary?" asked Navalny in his blog post.

Peskov says it was a wedding present from his wife. But others pointed out a picture on his daughter's Instagram account that they said showed him wearing the same watch several months ago (BBC Trending has not seen this picture). The allegations prompted a mixture of anger and humour online.

In this satirical image circulated on Twitter Putin is seen telling Peskov 'Tell them you found it at a bus stop'


2. Nigeria's first lady Aisha Buhari

Last month President Muhammadu Buhari's wife, Aisha, received a similar wave of criticismwhen a photo of their inauguration ceremony emerged. She appeared to be wearing a Cartier Baignoire Folle 18-carat white gold diamond timepiece that was estimated to cost more than £30,000.



Many demanded to know how the wife of a president, who had made much of his humble upbringing and "man of the people" image, had bought the watch. But others came to her defence, saying she was a successful business woman in her own right, and could have bought the watch herself.


3. Abu-bakr Al-Baghdadi, leader of the so-called Islamic State



Al-Baghdadi was put under the spotlight after he was spotted wearing an expensive watch last year. He was pictured dressed in a long black robe and matching headdress during an unexpected visit to a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul, with what appeared to be a Rolex or Omega Seamaster on his wrist.

Twitter users published a swathe of comments accusing the IS leader of hypocrisy.



4. Yang Dacai, a Chinese government official


Chinese netizens profiled Yang's luxury watch collection

In the summer of 2012, Decai was pictured smiling at the scene of a bus crash in Shaanxi Province. Annoyed by his cheerful demeanour at the scene of a tragedy, people on the popular Sina Weibo network began trawling through other images of the official, and in picture after picture they noticed he was wearing what appeared to be a string of luxury watches.

Collectively they were believed to be worth many thousands of pounds, and people demanded to know how he could afford them on his modest salary. The outcry began what became an unravelling of Decai's political career, leading to a more serious allegations of corruption, and eventually a jail sentence for the official.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-33760030

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I love the Chinese...corrupt public officials don't get off easily there.

Notice how it's only the Chinaman that got served, among all the public figures that were mentioned in this post?
,,,and also how, the only female is from...

Our women dey try sha!

How do I get one?

Money speaking.

londongal03:
How do I get one?

it will be easier for you When you have a gun so you can rob those idiots mentioned

gabazin080:
it will be easier for you When you have a gun so you can rob those idiots mentioned

gun?

Will they be able to see what the time is in heaven with those watches.
And y is Tinubu not on the list abi na only house him dey carry our money build

Some humans are callous, they put on these when many of their own are hungry.

Horlawoomey:
Some humans are callous, they put on these when many of their own are hungry.

What would Jesus do?

To know the true worth of a person,
These 3 things are a dead give away!
1. The Watch
2. The Shoes
3. The Bag

Getting my own soon. Thank God I'm not in politics yet, no one will know

whirlwind7:
I love the Chinese...corrupt public officials don't get off easily there.

Notice how it's only the Chinaman that got served, among all the public figures that were mentioned in this post?
,,,and also how, the only female is from...

Our women dey try sha!

The only female is from Nigeria !!!