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Cement manufacturer Lafarge went on trial in France on Tuesday, accused of paying the Islamic State group and other insurgents to safeguard its operations in war-torn Syria.
In a similar case in the United States, the French company admitted to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated terrorist organisations and agreed to pay a $778 million fine, the first conviction of its kind against a corporation.
In the French proceedings, Lafarge, now owned by Swiss multinational Holcim, allegedly paid millions of dollars between 2013 and 2014 through its subsidiary, Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), to insurgent groups and intermediaries to keep its factory in northern Syria operating. The alleged recipients included the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
Those charged include Lafarge, former Chief Executive Bruno Lafont, five ex-operational and security officers, and two Syrian middlemen. One of the Syrians is wanted internationally and is unlikely to attend the trial.
They face accusations of “financing terrorism” and breaching international sanctions. If found guilty of terrorism funding, Lafarge could face a fine of up to $1.2 million, and potentially more for violating sanctions. Holcim has maintained that it was unaware of Lafarge’s dealings in Syria before the 2015 merger.
Lafarge completed its $680 million plant in Jalabiya in 2010, just before Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011 following President Bashar al-Assad’s violent crackdown on protests. The conflict soon drew in multiple armed groups and foreign powers, including IS militants who seized much of Syria and Iraq in 2014 and declared a “caliphate”.
While most multinational firms withdrew from Syria in 2012, Lafarge evacuated only its foreign staff, leaving Syrian workers in place until IS captured the factory in September 2014.
Between 2013 and 2014, LCS allegedly paid intermediaries to secure raw materials and safe passage for its vehicles and employees.
Kurdish-led forces, backed by a US-led coalition, eventually defeated IS in 2019.
French authorities launched an investigation in 2017 following media reports and two legal complaints filed in 2016, one from the finance ministry for alleged sanctions breaches and another from NGOs and former staff for terrorism funding.
The Paris trial is expected to continue until mid-December. The US Department of Justice said Lafarge had effectively entered a “revenue-sharing” deal with IS to suppress competition.
Lafont, who led Lafarge from 2007 to 2015, has called the French inquiry “biased.” A separate investigation into potential complicity in crimes against humanity remains ongoing.
In the US, around 430 Yazidi Americans and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad have filed a civil lawsuit, accusing the company of supporting atrocities through collaboration with IS.
