Zaire Finances

Mobutu Sese Seko may have given up his power, but during three decades the dictator who promised his impoverished African land that he would live on his soldier's pay salted away a vast secret fortune often estimated at as much as $5 billion. That huge sum would make him richer than well-known tycoons such as Rupert Murdoch or Ross Perot. It would give Zaire's longtime ruler the same assessed value as many Fortune 500 corporations.

Mobutu Sese Seko may have given up his power, but during three decades the dictator who promised his impoverished African land that he would live on his soldier's pay salted away a vast secret fortune often estimated at as much as $5 billion. That huge sum would make him richer than well-known tycoons such as Rupert Murdoch or Ross Perot. It would give Zaire's longtime ruler the same assessed value as many Fortune 500 corporations.