French political scandals

Until 1958

1816 - shipwreck of and search for French frigate Medusa off the west coast of Africa.
1847 - Teste-Cubières corruption scandal, revealed in May 1847
1847 - Charles de Choiseul-Praslin's suicide after having murdered his wife, daughter of Horace Sébastiani, Minister of the July Monarchy.
1890s - Panama scandals.
1894 - the Dreyfus Affair, treason conviction of Alfred Dreyfus - exposed by writer Emile Zola on January 13, 1898.
1928 - Marthe Hanau affair
1930 - Albert Oustric affair
1934 - the Stavisky Affair, embezzlement and political corruption.
1949 - the Generals Affair, a political-military scandal during the First Indochina War.
1950 - the Henri Martin Affair, a political-military scandal during the First Indochina War.
1958 - the ballets roses, a scandal most notably involving then President of the Senate, André Le Troquer, in which a group of girls aged 15 to 17 performed "ballets" that ended in orgies.

1965 - the Ben Barka affair, disappearance of the Moroccan opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka.
1974

Eurodif Affair.
Cardinal Jean Daniélou's death in the house of a prostitute (1974)
Le Monde reveals the existence of the SAFARI government database, prompting the creation of the CNIL agency in charge of respect of civil rights and data privacy.

Robert Boulin Affair (Boulin was a minister of the third Raymond Barre government, found dead in mysterious circumstances on October 30, 1979)
The diamonds affair involving Bokassa.

1981 - The Canard enchaîné uncovered the Collaborationist role of former Minister Maurice Papon under Vichy France. The latter will be eventually convicted of crimes against humanity.
1985 - Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by the French DGSE intelligence agency
1986 - Chernobyl disaster: Jacques Chirac's government wrongly alleged that the "radioactive cloud" had stopped at the French borders.
1987-1988 - Iskandar Safa and the Hostage Scandal involving Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and Interior Minister Charles Pasqua.
1980s - Affaire du sang contaminé
The Canard enchaîné satirical newspaper fought to bring to light evidence of alleged corruption during President Jacques Chirac's tenure as mayor of Paris. (see: Chirac's role in Parisian corruption scandals)
1990s - Angolagate (arms-for-oil scandal)

1994 - Yann Piat (a former Front National far-right MP, assassinated on February 25, 1994)
1998 - Affair Elf-Dumas
1999 - "Affair of the beach huts", leading to the arrest of prefect Bernard Bonnet
2005

The revelations of the Canard enchaîné on Finance Minister Hervé Gaymard's (UMP) lavish state-funded apartment led to his resignation in 2005.

Clearstream affair allegedly involving French prime minister Dominique de Villepin (UMP) attempting to discredit his political rivals, including UMP leader Nicolas Sarkozy, by spreading false allegations concerning the Taiwan frigates scandal.
President Jacques Chirac (UMP) is also accused by the Canard enchaîné of disposing of 50 million euros in a Japanese bank account in the Tokyo Sowa Bank owned by Shōichi Osada, who has since been sentenced to prison in Japan.