It’s a fact that for a country to thrive and prosper,
there needs to be law and order, as well as an
honest government in place that has the best
interests of the people at heart. However, there are
several instances in history (and even today) where
some leaders choose to use their positions of power
to brutalize the inhabitants of their own country and loot large amounts of money. Hare are ten examples of dictators and presidents who stole obscene amounts of money from their countries.



Source:
http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/poorest-list/10-political-dictators-who-shamelessly-looted-their-countries/

Sani Abacha – Nigeria


Nigeria has been in the news a lot lately – mostly
because of the uproar over the kidnapping of the
young school girls by the extremist terrorist
organization, Boko Haram. However, this is a country that is no stranger to political turmoil. From 1993 to 1998, the country was led by a very corrupt army general named Sani Abacha. He seized power via a military coup and what ensued was one of the most extreme cases of political looting the world has ever seen. It has been reported that through his 5-year reign, he looted between $2-$5 billion dollars from the country’s coffers. Just recently, the United States Department of Justice froze $450 million of the ill- gotten gains hidden in bank accounts in the Channel Islands and France. The US Department of Justice is also seeking another $100 million from Abacha’s investment portfolios in 3 Bank accounts in the United Kingdom. This represents the highest
amount of money being sought after by the United
States in a civil forfeiture case against a foreign
leader.

Viktor Yanukovych – Ukraine

This year has been a tumultuous one for the people
of Ukraine. The tensions have played out on the
world scene with the people voicing their demands
to be part of the European Union rather than
constantly being under the thumb of Russia’s
Vladimir Putin. One of the results of the uprising was the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych, the corrupt leader who was pretty much a puppet of Russia. He ended up fleeing the country during the uprising and when protesters stormed his lavish 343 acre estate, they couldn’t believe what they found. The corrupt leader was living like a king – there was a man-made lake, a huge and ornate Pirate galleon (ship), a large garage with a full fleet of luxury vehicles and motorbikes, a private petting zoo with exotic animals, bathrooms with gold toilets, expensive art worth millions and he even had bottles of vodka personalized with his face. This is how he was squandering the country’s riches while the majority of Ukrainians were suffering to make ends meet.
Shameful!

Suharto – Indonesia

Suharto was the president of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998, and during that time, he did enough looting for three life times – and this was all the expense of the impoverished people of Indonesia. One of the main reasons that Suharto stayed in power so long was that he was staunchly against the communist wave sweeping Asia at the time of his ascendancy. Because of this, western governments recognized him as a needed ally. So under this shroud of this protection, Suharto went on to steal as much as $35 billion from Indonesia. He was eventually charged in court for looting over $500 million of state money by setting up several fake charities. His health was already failing and he was deemed too ill to stand trial. Suharto eventually passed away in 2008 from complications arising from a weak heart.

Mobutu Sese Seko – Zaire

Mobutu was another leader who held on to power
and stole money from his government because he
had support from the powers that be in the West,
namely Belgium and United States. He took power
via a military coup in 1960 against the nationalist
leader of that time, Patrice Lumumba. He officially
became the head of state in 1965 and he proceeded
to bilk the nation of Zaire of almost $4 billion dollars. His was a brutal and authoritarian regime. He would seek out and murder any one challenging his power and he diverted most of the money lent to the country by the IMF to his own personal accounts. He had several villas in Europe and lived a rich and opulent lifestyle. He was eventually overthrown from power in May of 1997 and died in September of that year while on exile in Morocco.

Yoruba Obasanjo,
Yoruba Awolowo (as the finance minister secretly conspired with his Yoruba kinsmen descended on our National coffers and looted everything).

Thiefnibu ripped the SW a huge hole in their pocket and has left the entire region voting for rice

Ferdinand Marcos – Philippines

President Marcos ruled the Philippines from 1965 to
1986 and his story is the one that’s mostly quoted
when intellectuals discuss corruption and excessive
abuse of power. Once again, his government was
propped up by several Western governments and
over his 20-year career, it’s believed that he
embezzled and looted over $10 billion (That’s billion with a “B” people). One of the stories that is
constantly reported by the media about his
corruption was the shoe collection of his wife Imelda
Marco – it included over 3,000 designer shoes! He
kept his money in Swiss banks under high levels of
secrecy, and it was only 14 years after his death in
1989 that some of these banks released an amount
of $657 million to the Philippine authorities.

Slobodan Milosevic – Serbia

Slobodan Milosevic was the president of Serbia from
1989 to 1997, and he was also the president of the
Yugoslavian republic from 1997 to 2000. His reign
was a brutal dictatorship with complete
authoritarian views. After his term as president was
over, he was charged by International Criminal
Tribunal for war crimes including genocide and other offenses against humanity. In addition to all these serious charges, he was also responsible for bilking his country out of almost $1 billion dollars. When it comes to unsavory political characters, this guy is definitely at the top of the list.

One thing common with all of them,is that they are either dead or in exile..



SO WHAT'S THE NEED...If it can buy you eternal life or peace of mind.

Willy1willy: Yoruba Obasanjo,
Yoruba Awolowo (as the finance minister secretly conspired with his Yoruba kinsmen descended on our National coffers and looted everything).

Haba, the guy never finish naa. Why the rush?

Jean-Claude Duvalier – Haiti

Jean Claude Duvalier was the president of Haiti from
1971 to 1986. He was the son of Francois Duvalier
aka Papa Doc, the wicked dictator who maintained a
stranglehold over the small island country using
Voodoo symbology and a legion of secret murdering
police known as the Tontons Macoutes. Jean
Claude’s father died at the age of 64, and he was
sworn in as president at the age of 19. By all
accounts, the son wasn’t as brutal as his father, but
he did have an affinity for the lavish things in
life. During his 15-year rule, it is believed that he
looted between $300-500 million. While he was in
power, Jean Claude Duvalier had a $3 million state-
sponsored wedding, and he also made millions by
secretly involving himself in illicit drug trading
through his nation.

Joseph Estrada – Philippines

It’s a shame that the Philippines appears on the list
twice, because honest & hardworking people
deserve better leaders and politicians. Estrada came into power 12 years after the regime of Marcos ended. But even though the president had changed, the dishonorable acts still continued: nepotism, stock price manipulation, widespread corruption, shady charity deals and more. One of his major scams was starting a charity under his wife’s name and registering it with the Security Exchange
Commission. Using this fake cover, Estrada
channeled millions of dollar into this charity
claiming that the beneficiaries were orphanages,
shelters and hospitals. His rule lasted three years
from 1998 to 2001 and it’s rumored that he looted
over $80 million dollars within this time.

Hosni Mubarak – Egypt

Mubarak was the leader of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. His maintained a heavy-handed rule over the entire country by using the extremely strong and
organized Egyptian army. He was also quite diligent
in making sure that a large portion of the country’s
money was diverted into his personal coffers. As at 2012, he was apparently worth
more than $70 billion with several high-end real
estate investments in London, Los Angeles and
Switzerland.

Kim Jong Un – North Korea

We left this dictator for last because he is still in
power and also because his wickedness and evil
treatment of his people is absolutely reprehensible.
The young dictator Kim Jong Un of North Korea
reigns over a country of about 24 million
inhabitants, and the majority of these people live in
abject poverty. He maintains his stranglehold over
the country by operating a large network of prison
camps where any dissidents of his rule are
immediately sent for life. In these prisons, these
people are physically and mentally abused,
malnourished and often forage in the wild for
rodents and snakes to eat – and most of these
prisoners often go mad. While all this is happening,
Kim Jong Un spends whatever money the country
has on importing over $645 million dollars a year on
luxury vehicles, 1000-seat private cinemas and
other high-end goods. The country itself is not a rich one, the corrupt North Korea revenue sources
include drug smuggling, selling alcohol in Islamic
countries and illegally dealing ivory from Africa to
China.

Any List Without That Bandit Called jonathan is Useless!

Moreover, those people you listed were/are petty thieves when compared with jonathan.

Where do you place a president who stole 20Billion Dollars in a single day?

Clerverly: Any List Without That Bandit Called jonathan is Useless!
Moreover, those people you listed are petty thieves when compared with jonathan

Is jonathan also looting?

Two supporters of APC are discussing.

Neyoor:

Is jonathan also looting?

Which kind question be that?

Was it not in your face, that he stole 20Billion Dollars in single day?

Share 2trillion Naira Oil subsidy fund with his criminal friends!

Stole over 30billion Bayelsa money in conjunction with Alamesiegha his godfather?

Where JEG and JBO na? Dis list no complete oo

jaytee01: Where JEG and JBO na? Dis list no complete oo

Who be JBO?

and see as their face take gen2,thief no dey write am 4 face o,chop mouth clean mouth mufus

Moderators! Move this to Front page for people to see the faces of the thieves.

all this amount are staggering. It may be off point,Tinubu should be on the list,he's criminal personified..

GEJ is 'bou to take over.. Another 4Years for that Shoeless Fvcktard would place him at the top of the "League".

Wtf, Are you kidding me? This list ain't complete without your man,. Muammar Gaddafi,. That guy was three times as rich as Bill Gate,. And ten times richer than king Abdullah of Saudi-Arabia!! Gaddafi was supposedly worth over a staggering $200 billion! with assets in bank accounts, real estate and corporate investments around the world,. He was the King of kings,! If you ask mee •

In all honesty and fairness, Abdusalami's name shud be dia, dat guy is d greatest thief of all, den Obasanjo's first regime as a military man shud also be dia, his stealing techniques is as old as his age.

Clerverly:
Which kind question be that?
Was it not in your face, that he stole 20Billion Dollars in single day?
Share 2trillion Naira Oil subsidy fund with his criminal friends!
Stole over 30billion Bayelsa money in conjunction with Alamesiegha his godfather?

Pple called cleverly ar always dull, I am not surprise dis tym.

The sad thing about this list is that, they all preside over poor people. Irony of life- countries that can afford 2 have corrupt leaders, produce the best leaders, countries that can't afford it, produce the worst leaders.

Clerverly: Any List Without That Bandit Called jonathan is Useless!

Moreover, those people you listed were/are petty thieves when compared with jonathan.

Where do you place a president who stole 20Billion Dollars in a single day?

. An Apple doesn't fall far from it's tree. This is so typical of a brain washed APC maggot. At first, it was 45 billion dollars but on realizing that the poor masses can't afford to buy the expensive lie your trumpet-master quickly reduced it to 20billion dollars.

The poorer the countries the bigger the devilish looters heart. Sad one! IBB n all leaders after him can comfortably rival anyone on that list

In honesty, the only common thing with all this people is that they are all SADIST. You don't steal from people and expected to be happy. Wealth that makes one happy is the one you acquired from your sweat. ill gotten wealth can only bring you more problem, especially when you make it a duty to continue stealing. Lesson to learn here is that "no amount of money can make you happy", whatever happiness money is giving you is only temporary. The love of money is the root of all evil..... No matter how small a money that one works for diligently could be, it will last and makes one more comfortable & happy. Too much of wealth is vanity, and the bible says: Vanity upon vanity, all is Vanity. Happy Sunday nairalanders!

Also the dictators in nigeria. The cluesless military generals that destroyed the country.