The two most powerful men in the world, the American and Russian President, have high salaries and huge assets. We were looking at how Miloš Zeman “fares” next to them, having made millions from selling his political memoirs.
Miloš Zeman
The Czech president's salary is currently CZK 274,500 and an extra flat-rate compensation of CZK 255,000 is also a fixed part. The reimbursement serves primarily to cover various expenses connected with the performance of the function, whether for representation money, administrative costs or even professional publications. After his office he is entitled to a lifetime annuity of CZK 50,000 per month.
Miloš Zeman last published the extent of his possessions last year before the presidential election. His spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said the president has saved 12 million crowns in his whole life. Part of this money he earned as royalties from the sale of his books, such as his memoirs Jak jsem se mýlil v politice which has sold more than 130 thousand copies.
Luxusní byt na prodej na Praha 9 - 75m, Praha 9
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He spent part of his savings, namely 2.5 million crowns this spring, on the land in Lány, where he wants to build a smaller house to live in after the end of his presidency. Zeman also owns a part of a cottage in the Highlands, where he spends his vacation. He is generally known to be economical and does not enjoy luxury.
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Miloš ZemanSource: Facebook M. Zemana
Donald Trump
Donald Trump is the richest president in US history, Forbes magazine estimates his total assets at USD 3.1 billion (72 billion crowns). Trump himself never published his tax returns, but with Forbes he had "argued" several times in the past. He has always claimed that he has several billion more, for example, in 2015 at the time of his presidential candidacy, he said that he has 8.7 billion dollars (over 202 billion crowns), later he increased the estimate to more than 10 billion dollars. And he only rated his personal brand at 4 billion. Interestingly, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has more money, according to Forbes, and is 310 places higher in the ranking.
Trump has money mainly in investment funds and real estate, such as luxury hotels, casinos, golf courses and large apartment buildings. His empire, The Trump Organization, brings together a number of companies and has interests in several companies. At the same time, it owes various creditors over half a billion dollars. During the presidency, everything is deposited in trust funds.
In his function, Donald Trump is entitled to an annual salary of 400,000 dollars (9.3 million crowns, 775,000 monthly). For representation, travel and other expenses he has at his disposal 3.9 million crowns.
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Donald TrumpSource: White House
Vladimir Putin
As President, Vladimir Putin, according to official information of the Russian authorities, earned a total of 38.5 million rubles (15.6 million crowns) between 2011 and 2016, which represents an average annual salary of 2.6 million crowns. He also receives a smaller army pension.
Putin himself said that he had personal savings of 13.8 million rubles (almost 4.9 million crowns) in thirteen bank accounts. He also owns a 75-square-meter luxury apartment in St. Petersburg, two historic Volga and SVU Lada cars from 2009. He also owns several banking shares.
All of these are officially published assets, but in reality the Russian president probably has more property, just hiding it abroad. In 2016, an international team of investigative journalists from more than 100 newspapers wrote that companies linked to Putin or his close associates have "hidden" about CZK 46 billion in foreign accounts. Based on the leaked documents in the Panama Papers case, they concluded that Putin could have access to this money indirectly.
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Vladimir PutinSource: Kremlin.ru (oficiální foto prezidenta)
