Maxim Shogali, the mysterious Russian man, revealed to the program "What is hidden is greater" in a new investigation, the details of his arrest in Libya in 2019, and his suspicious relationship with the founder of Wagner and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
Regarding the arrest of Shoghali and one of his aides in Tripoli on May 17, 2019, the head of the Supreme Council in Libya, Khaled Al-Meshri, revealed that the arrest came based on intelligence information from a foreign country to the Ministry of Interior and the Attorney General's Office, likely the United States of America, noting that at that time Russia had not yet intervened in favor of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar.
For his part, Fathi Bashagha, who was then Minister of Interior (2018-2021), confirmed that the arrest was carried out by the Attorney General's Office, which had full information about Shoghali's movements, and ordered his arrest and his assistant, stressing that he did not have enough information about the arrest.
Nizar Kawan, a member of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, spoke of Libyan-American intelligence cooperation that led to Shoghali's arrest.
In an exclusive interview with "What is hidden is greater", Shoghali, who is the head of the Fund for the Protection of National Values in Russia, said that he is not a military man, and that he served in the army of the Soviet Union (1984 and 1986), and has nothing to do with the special forces or the armed forces, stressing that he had entered Libya on an official visa and was not clearly charged.
Shoghali refused to discuss the conditions of his detention in his meeting with Al Jazeera, saying only that this matter was directed and supported from abroad, calling for this situation to be overcome.
The programme broadcast exclusive footage of the raid and arrest of Shogali on 17 May 2019.
An exclusive leaked copy of the Libyan Public Prosecution's memorandum in the case of Shoghali and his team shows that "Maxim Shogali Antoli" was active with others in working on Libyan soil as part of a Russian team and performed multiple tasks, and the team included some people, including Samer Seifan, who holds Russian, Jordanian and Peruvian nationalities, and is originally a surgeon and was Shogali's private interpreter. They all entered Libya under different covers.
The investigative report indicates that Yevgeny Prigozhin's name is frequently mentioned in the report of the Libyan Public Prosecution, and he was referred to by several names. He is described as one of the biggest decision-makers in Russian cuisine, and his name has been associated with the founding of the Wagner Group.
On his relationship with Wagner founder Prigozhin, Shogali admitted in his interview with Al Jazeera that he knew Wagner's founder personally.
Meetings with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Al-Meshri reveals to "What is hidden is greater" that Prigozhin, or as President Putin's cook is described, contacted him personally with the aim of ending the Shogali affair without fanfare, a call leaked by the Russians themselves.
The investigative report, titled "Shigali Secrets," focused on Russian intervention in Libya through Wagner's forces, but Shogali denied the accusations against Wagner, saying they were "a kind of myth."
The program was able to obtain secret files that include hundreds of documents, reports and dozens of videos that were in Shogali's private devices and were confiscated on the day of his arrest, revealing the hidden role of the Russian team and its associates in the Libyan scene and abroad.
Secret reports show that Shoghali monitored the field and military situation in Libya and transmitted information to Moscow daily, but the most prominent of them was a series of meetings of the Russian team with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, with the aim of supporting him to run in the presidential elections. The documents show that three meetings took place between the Russian team and Saif al-Islam.
Regarding the meetings with Saif al-Islam, Shoghali said that Gaddafi's son was not detained at the time, denying that his team was seeking to influence the Libyan elections.
It is noteworthy that after a year and 8 months, Shoghali and his assistant were released in what was described as a political deal, and Khaled Al-Meshri said that the release came after many mediations.
The investigative programme showed footage broadcast for the first time of Shoghali and his aide's extradition to their respective authorities by Libyan authorities in Tripoli on 20 December 2020. The delivery took place at Antique Airport.