French cement maker convicted of financing terror groups to keep its Syria plant working | France
A French court fined cement group Lafarge more than €1 million (£870,000) and sentenced its former boss to six years in prison for paying protection money to the Islamic State and other terror groups to maintain its business in war-torn Syria from 2013 to 2014.
The decision follows a 2022 trial in the US in which the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated “terrorist” organizations and agreed to pay a $778 million (£580 million) fine; This was the first time a company had faced this accusation.
The Paris court found that Lafarge, now part of Swiss conglomerate Holcim, through its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), paid nearly €5.6 million to terrorist groups and intermediaries to keep its plant operating in northern Syria.
The company’s former chief executive, Bruno Lafont, was sentenced to six years in prison for financing terrorism, and the judge ordered him to begin serving that sentence immediately. Lafont’s lawyer said he would appeal.
The president of the court, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, said: “This method of financing terrorist organizations, and ISIS in particular, was vital in allowing the terrorist organization to gain control of Syria’s natural resources and finance planned terrorist acts within the region and abroad, especially in Europe.”
He said Lafarge had established a “true business partnership with ISIS”, which increased the “extreme seriousness of the crimes”.
Lafarge completed the construction of a $680 million factory in Celabiya in 2010; This was just before civil war broke out in Syria in March the following year, amid opposition to then-president Bashar al-Assad’s brutal suppression of anti-government protests.
ISIS captured a large area of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, ruthlessly controlling local areas.
While other multinational companies left Syria in 2012, Lafarge only evacuated its expatriate employees and left its Syrian staff in place until September 2014, when ISIS took control of the factory.
In 2013 and 2014, LCS paid intermediaries to gain access to raw materials from the Islamic State organization and other groups and to allow the free movement of the company’s trucks and employees. He paid money to groups including the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, which was then affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Sherpa and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, which filed a complaint about the case together with Lafarge’s former Syrian employees, said the decision was “an important turning point in the fight for corporate accountability.” However, they said that Syrian employees are still waiting for compensation.
Former Syrian Lafarge employees told the court their daily lives were shaped by fear of dismissal, bombings, kidnappings, crossing areas under sniper fire, having to pass through checkpoints and the constant risk of reprisals from armed groups.
Former employees said in a statement after the decision: “Lafarge was aware of what was happening to us (checkpoints, threats, daily fear) but chose to risk the lives of its employees for the sake of profit.” Former employees said they will continue to seek compensation.
Holcim, who took over Lafarge in 2015, said he had no knowledge of the Syria deals.
In its closing statements, the French national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said Lafarge was guilty of financing “terrorist” organizations for the “sole purpose: profit”.
Lafarge is also under investigation in France for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
