This study examines the assassination of Jean-Baptiste Kléber, a prominent French General of the Revolutionary Wars period, commander-in-chief of the Oriental Army in Egypt by Suleiman al-Khalebi, a Syrian, on June 14, 1800 in Cairo. The investigation carried out by the occupation authorities concluded that Yusuf Pasha, the Grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire, was the one who put out the crime, as he supposedly sought revenge on Kléber for the recent defeat of the Turkish forces in the battle of Heliopolis. Later, this version was also uncritically reproduced by numerous historians who in one way or another narrated this story. Exploring for the first time such a highly informative archive source as reports of Russian diplomat Frankini from the Turkish headquarters, the author of the article shows that for Yusuf Pasha, the assassination of Kléber was not only an absolute surprise, but also completely violated his strategic plan to liberate Egypt from the French occupation peacefully. The statement of this fact completely refutes the established opinion on the involvement of Yusuf Pasha in the assassination of the French commander. The main beneficiaries of the crime were the First Consul of France Napoleon Bonaparte and General Abdullah-Jacques Menou, Kléber’s successor as commander-in-chief of the Oriental Army. This event saved Bonaparte from the prospect of a prompt return to France of the army abandoned by him in Egypt and therefore irritated against him, which was led by a general utterly hostile towards him. Menou got an opportunity to colonise Egypt, which he ardently supported. Though 219 years after the crime it is impossible to reliably establish its organisers, the application of the qui prodest? principle allows us to exonerate the Grand vizier from blame and, on the contrary, leaves Bonaparte and Menou under suspicion.