Cuban President Fidel Castro said he'll resign the day critics prove he has money in foreign accounts, in a special television appearance to rebut a Forbes magazine report naming him one of the world's wealthiest leaders.

Cuban President Fidel Castro holds an issue of Forbes magazine while addressing the nation via television in Havana May 15, 2006. Castro may be one of the world's longest serving leaders, but he furiously denied on Monday a Forbes magazine story ranking him among the richest. The U.S. financial magazine estimated Castro's wealth at $900 million. [Reuters]

The 79-year-old leader said Monday on the government's daily public affairs program Mesa Redonda, or "Round Table," that he has showed throughout his life that he's uninterested in material possessions.

"Why would I want money, especially now that I'm going to be 80 years old?" Castro said. "Why would I want money now, if I never wanted it before?"

He called the report "rubbish," saying "all this makes me sick."

In its May 5 article, "Fortunes Of Kings, Queens And Dictators," Forbes put Castro in 7th place in a group of 10 world leaders with "lofty positions and vast fortunes."

The magazine estimated Castro's personal wealth to be US$900 million (euro700 million) _ nearly double that of the US$500 million (euro390 million) of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and just under Prince Albert II of Monaco's estimated US$1 billion (euro780 million).

The article also referred to rumors of Castro having "large stashes in Swiss bank accounts."

"I've been listening to this wickedness for nearly half a century butI don't pay much attention," said Castro, dressed in his trademark olive green military uniform. "Neither lies nor slander are worth anything."

Yet later on the program, which lasted four-and-a-half hours, Castro said, "If they can prove I have an account abroad ... containing even one dollar I will resign my post."

Several top Cuban officials also rejected the article during the broadcast.

"It is absolutely impossible that someone in the upper levels of government and especially not a leader (like Castro) ... who is recognized by the Cuban people as an example of humility and self-discipline could maintain personal accounts abroad," Central Bank President Francisco Soberon.  

In explaining its calculations, Forbes said it assumed Castro has economic control over a web of state-owned companies including a convention center, a retail conglomerate and an enterprise that sells Cuban-produced pharmaceuticals.

Soberon said, however, that all the money made from those companies is pumped back into the country's economy, into sectors including health, education, science, security, defense and solidarity projects with other countries.

Forbes acknowledged in its article that the estimates for all the leaders are "more art than science."