http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=6313
Move over, Bill Gates. There’s somebody out there stealing your title as the richest man in the world. Unlike you, however, he has been keeping his fortune close to his chest. Or so he thought, until it was revealed by Reuters on Monday.
Yes, your net worth of $76.2 billion pales in comparison to the wealth of your newly discovered competitor, whose assets are estimated at in excess of $95 billion. And this guy didn’t even have to earn it by the sweat of his brow. All he had to do was pray to Allah. Oh, and rob thousands upon thousands of people of their property.
Nor did he get sent to jail, like the folks at Enron or Bernie Madoff, in case you’re wondering. Of course not. But that’s because in his country, the Islamic Republic of Iran, he’s the one who determines all matters of crime and punishment. In fact, he has the last word on just about everything. But then, he’s the turbaned head honcho, the mullah who controls everything in Iran, from women’s fashion to uranium enrichment.
That Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has a stranglehold on the government is not exactly news. Even the ostriches in the United States and Europe have come to acknowledge his immense power. This is why they took heart in the green light he gave to President Hasan Rouhani to engage in negotiations with the West about Iran’s nuclear program. And though it is true that Khamenei and Rouhani are on the same page where these talks are concerned, it is not a page from the book that the fantasists are reading.
What was not known about Khamenei, however, was his grip on more than mere governmental and godly issues. Thanks to an in-depth, six-month investigation by Reuters, we are now aware of the chief mullah’s money-grubbing.