France: Lafarge to stand trial on charges of financing terrorism through its cement plant in Syria
Association for the Defense of Victims of Terrorism - On Tuesday, November 13, 1404, the French judiciary began the trial of the French company "Lafarge" and its former officials on charges of financing terrorism in Syria until 2014, in order to ensure the continuation of work at the company's cement factory there.
The company and eight defendants will appear in criminal court on December 16 on charges of financing terrorist organizations, including ISIS. Several of them are also on trial for failing to comply with international financial sanctions.
In addition to Lafarge, which was acquired by Swiss group Holcim in 2015, the company’s former CEO Bruno Lafont, five former executives in operational or security departments, and two Syrian intermediaries, one of whom is internationally wanted, will appear in court.
The French group is suspected of paying €5 million in 2013 and 2014, through its subsidiary, Lafarge Cement Syria, to groups it considers “terrorists,” including ISIS and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. The group is also said to have paid intermediaries to protect its cement factory in Jalbiyah, northern Syria, during the years of conflict that began in 2011. The company invested €680 million in the factory, which was built in 2010.
While other multinationals left Syria in 2012, Lafarge only evacuated its foreign employees at the time, keeping Syrians working there until September 2014, when ISIS took control of the area where the factory is located.
At this stage of the Syrian conflict, the company hired intermediaries to procure the raw materials needed to run the factory, from areas controlled by ISIS and other extremist groups, as well as to supply the factory workers and products.
The investigation into the case began in 2017, following press reports and two complaints in 2016, one by the Ministry of Economy for violating the Syrian financial embargo and the other by associations and 11 former employees of the company’s branch in Syria for financing terrorism.
On the other hand, the new group that emerged from the 2015 merger of Lafarge with Holcim launched an internal investigation and has always been keen to deny any connection to the events leading up to the merger.
In October 2022, Lafarge admitted in the United States to paying almost six million dollars to ISIS and the Nusra Front and agreed to pay a fine of $778 million.
In France, the company faces a fine of up to €1.125 billion if found guilty of financing terrorism. The fine would be significantly higher if found guilty of violating financial sanctions against Syria
