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French cement-maker Lafarge found guilty of financing jihadists in Syria
Prosecutors said Lafarge paid at least 4.7 million euros to keep its Syrian plant running and preserve access to raw materials and truck routes.
- On Monday, a Paris court convicted the Lafarge unit of Swiss conglomerate Holcim of financing terrorism and breaching sanctions in Syria, ruling the company paid the Islamic State to keep its Jalabiya factory operating.
- Between 2013 and 2014, Lafarge paid 5.59 million euros to jihadists including the Islamic State and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, with presiding judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez stating the payments formed a 'genuine commercial partnership with IS.'
- In addition to the company, the court found eight former employees guilty of financing terrorist organizations, as prosecutors described the decision to prioritize the plant as 'staggering in its cynicism' with a 'single aim: profit.'
- Though the French court has yet to hand down sentences, the ruling follows a 2022 U.S. case where Lafarge pleaded guilty to supporting terrorist organizations and paid a $778 million fine.
- Holcim, which acquired Lafarge in 2015, maintains it had no knowledge of the Syrian dealings, while a separate ongoing case investigates allegations of complicity in crimes against humanity.
127 Articles
127 Articles
French Court Convicts Concrete Company of Financing ISIS
France's top anti-terror court has delivered a landmark ruling against cement giant Lafarge, finding the company guilty of bankrolling armed groups in Syria to keep a lucrative plant running. Judges in Paris said Lafarge and eight former executives, including ex-CEO Bruno Lafont, paid at least $6.36 million to ISIS...
Concrete Giant Found Guilty of Financing ISIS.
Lafarge has become the first corporation to be convicted of financing terrorism in France.PULSE POINTS WHAT HAPPENED: French cement giant Lafarge has been convicted of financing terrorism after paying $6.5 million to various jihadist groups, including the Islamic State (ISIS), to maintain operations at its Syrian plant during the civil war. Eight former employees, including ex-CEO Bruno Lafont, were also found guilty, with Lafont sentenced to si…
The French cement company has paid protection money to the terrorists of the Islamic State. The prosecutor's office spoke in court of a "commercial animal that voluntarily fed the jihadist beast".
At the cement manufacturer Lafarge he got up to the very top, has a parade career behind him. But now he has to go to prison at the age of 69.
The French cement producer Lafarge and eight other directors were found guilty on Monday by the Paris Court of Financing of Terrorism in 2013 and 2014, because they paid Jihadist groups to allow a factory to operate in...
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