Report on king's wealth refuted

A Forbes magazine report that lists Thailand's king as the world's richest royal is "inaccurate and inconsistent" because it includes vast property holdings as part of his net worth, the Thai foreign ministry said.

Forbes placed Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Wednesday at the top of its list of wealthy monarchs with a fortune of $35 billion. He took the top spot from the Sultan of Brunei, whose $20 billion fortune has declined amid cutbacks in the country's oil production.

But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disputed those calculations. It argued the report was wrong because it included land and other assets "belonging to the Crown Property Bureau that are not part of the king's net worth."