War, Art, Corruption.

It's about fakes and hundreds of genuinely stolen treasures from antiquity.

The scenes of their disappearance are “politically unstable”, mostly war-torn countries in the Arab world.

The French police, who have been working on its investigation for four years, speak of a crime of “unprecedented proportions”.

Notorious gangs of thieves, corrupt experts and renowned galleries, auction houses and museums are involved in the scandal.

The focus is on the Louvre and its Abu Dhabi branch, which has been sold for tens of millions of looted art.

The controversial museum in the desert, which has to generate millions in profits for its parent company in Paris, appears next to the plundered countries as the main - but probably quite willing - victim of the opaque affair.

money laundering and gang crime

It became public because the "Canard enchaîné" reported on the arrest of the longtime head of the Louvre: Jean-Claude Martinez is accused of money laundering and "complicity in gang crime".

As a possible motive, the police called the "financing of terrorism".

Martinez's job at the head of the "Agence France Muséums" was fatal.

She had to verify the authenticity and provenance of the works purchased by and for Abu Dhabi.

One of the more spectacular cases concerns a Tutankhamun stele made of rose granite.

The blinded museum in the desert was charged 8.5 million euros for them.

When the French Egyptologist Marc Gabolde visited the museum a few days after it opened, he had the impression that it was a forgery: "I didn't know this stele." He reported the suspicion to Vincent Rondot, who was responsible for the Louvre, and to the Egyptologist Olivier Perdu from the Collège de France.

There were several encounters – also with Martinez.

According to the Liberation newspaper, which had access to the hearing transcripts, Gabolde was made clear that he should stop investigating and remain silent.

Rondot and Perdu will not be further investigated.

However, proceedings were initiated against Martinez, "certainly not just because of the muzzle" for Gabolde, comments "Libération".

As things stand, most of the objects acquired under the responsibility of “France Muséums”, with a total value of over fifty million, are “of dubious origin”.

The authenticity of the Tutankhamun stele, on the other hand, is confirmed by seven documents.

"The world of art is shaking," writes "Libération".

And we rub our eyes again.