French court rules cement giant Lafarge guilty of funding Syria ‘terrorism’

A French court has found cement group Lafarge guilty of financing “terrorism” through its Syrian subsidiary, fining the company and jailing its former CEO. The Paris court ruled on Monday that Lafarge had paid protection money directly to ISIL (ISIS) and other armed groups and breached European sanctions to operate in northern Syria during the country’s civil war in 2013-2014. The case is just the latest of several concerning the company’s conduct during the conflict.

The court ordered Lafarge to pay a fine of 1.12 million euros ($1.32m), and for 30 million euros ($35.1m) worth of its assets to be confiscated. An additional fine was levied for having disregarded international sanctions. The ruling can be appealed.

Eight former Lafarge employees were found guilty of financing “terrorist” organisations, including former CEO Bruno Lafont, who was ⁠sentenced to six years in jail. His lawyer has said that he plans to appeal. The company’s former deputy managing director, Christian Herrault, was sentenced to five years in jail.

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Other former employees were handed fines and sentences ranging from one to seven years. The presiding judge, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, said the payments made by Lafarge helped to strengthen groups that carried out deadly attacks in Syria and beyond. “It is clear to the court that the sole purpose of the funding of a terrorist organisation was to keep the Syrian plant running for economic reasons.

Payments to terrorist entities enabled Lafarge to continue its operations,” Prevost-Desprez said. “These payments took the form of a genuine commercial partnership with [ISIL],” she added. Judges found that Lafarge paid a total of 5.59 million euros ($6.55m) to armed groups in Syria during the war, including to ISIL (ISIS) and the al-Nusra Front, which was formerly affiliated with current Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Both outfits were designated “terrorist” groups by the European Union between 2013 and September 2014. Lafarge’s plant in Jalabiya, located in northern Syria and bought by the company in 2008 for $680m, began ⁠operating in 2010, months before the beginning of the Syrian uprising in early 2011. Employees were ⁠housed in the nearby town of Manbij and needed to cross the Euphrates River to access the plant. Among the payments, the court found more than 800,000 euros ($937,000) were paid to secure safe passage.

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