A major legal ruling in France has seen Lafarge convicted over allegations it financed armed groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda in the Levant (Nusra Front) to keep its Syrian plant running.
NARRATION:
A French court ruled on Monday that Lafarge paid at least $6.5 million to insurgent groups between 2013 and 2014 to secure continued operations at its cement facility during the Syrian conflict.
Presiding judge, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, sentenced former CEO, Bruno Lafont, to six years in prison and found eight other employees guilty of aiding and abetting terrorist organisations in northern Syria.
The court said the payments were made in several instalments and amounted to what it described as a “commercial arrangement” with Islamic State, intended to ensure the plant’s uninterrupted operation and safe passage for staff.
Lafarge argued that the funds were necessary to protect employees and maintain operations in a volatile war zone, saying shutting down the plant would have put workers at risk.
However, the court rejected the defence, stating that the financing was ultimately aimed at keeping the facility running for economic reasons, despite involving armed groups.
Other executives, including former deputy managing director Christian Herrault, received prison sentences, while Syrian intermediary Firas Tlass was sentenced in absentia for facilitating the transactions.
The company was also fined $1.3 million, marking one of the most significant corporate convictions linked to the Syrian conflict.
Lafarge acknowledged the ruling, describing the case as a legacy matter involving conduct that violated its internal compliance code.
