Believe it or not, Sonia’s Italy property worth only Rs19 lakh!

The addition of ‘my share in inherited property’ has helped her bring down the value of the property nearer to the previous value and facilitated her to maintain her image of a non-wealthy politician. She, however, has not submitted any documents to prove that her share in the Orbassano’s property in 2014 is only Rs. 19.90 lakh as compared to Rs 18.05  lakhs in 2008, which in terms of appreciation is less than Rs 2 lakhs.

However, real estate experts who operate in the international market are not buying this theory and point out that as per current market scenario, an 861 sq ft flat in Orbassano is worth Rs 1.2 crore (approx). If we take that Sonia’s share in the property is even 400 sf. ft (approx), then it will be around Rs 50 lakhs. Now, it is be a different issue if her share in the property is only 100 sq ft, which will cost around Rs 10-12 lakhs. Sonia’s property in Orbassano is located in the Piemonte region of northern Italy. This place has now high commercial value and is considered to be one of the posh areas in the country, which is close to industrial and business hubs of Torino and Milano.

On Tuesday, while filing her affidavit, she declared her assets to be worth over Rs.9.28 crore though she does not have a vehicle in her name. As per her affidavit submitted along with her nomination papers for the Rae Bareli seat, her movable assets are worth Rs. 2.81 crore and immovable assets are worth Rs. 6.47 crore.  As compared to 2009, her assets show a six-fold increase. She has given a loan of Rs. nine lakh to her son Rahul Gandhi and in her income tax returns for 2012-13 she had shown her income to be over Rs. 14.21 lakh. Among movable assets, she has Rs. 85,000 in cash, Rs. 66 lakh in banks, Rs. 10 lakh worth of bonds and shares worth Rs. 1.90 lakh.

Also, she has mutual funds worth Rs. 82.20 lakh, PPF amounting to Rs. 42.49 lakh, National Saving Scheme of Rs. 2.86 lakh and ornaments worth over Rs. 62 lakh. Among the immovable assets, she has declared a land valued at Rs. 4.86 crore in Deramandi village, another land worth Rs. 1.40 crore in Sultanpur beside the ancestral property in Italy worth Rs. 19.90 lakh besides.

Last time, while filing her nomination papers in 2009, Sonia Gandhi had declared her assets over Rs.1.37 crore. Earlier, Huffington Post World in a report had placed the Congress president on a list of wealthiest  world leaders at number 12. 

The report said Sonia was richer than Elizabeth II, the Queen of England and Bashar Al-Assad, President of Syria. Later, the newspaper apologised to the UPA chairperson by claiming that it relied wrongfully on a third-party source to calculate her wealth.