Lafarge Guilty of Financing Terrorism in Syria

French cement maker Lafarge, now owned by Swiss conglomerate Holcim, was found guilty on Monday of financing terrorism and breaching European sanctions to keep its plant in northern Syria operational during the civil war. According to multiple reports, Lafarge paid approximately $6.5 million (€5.59 million) between 2013 and September 2014 to jihadist groups, including Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.

The court in Paris convicted eight former Lafarge employees, including ex-CEO Bruno Lafont who was sentenced to six years in prison. Former deputy managing director Christian Herrault received a five-year sentence, while Firas Tlass, a Syrian ex-employee responsible for making the payments, was sentenced in absentia to seven years.

The presiding judge, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, stated that the payments were made solely to keep the plant running and enabled Lafarge to continue its operations. The court found that over €800,000 was paid for safe passage across the Euphrates River, while another €1.6 million was used to purchase materials from quarries under IS control.

The Jalabiya plant in northern Syria was acquired by Lafarge in 2008 for $680 million and began operations in 2010, just months before the Syrian civil war erupted. The case marks the first time a company has been tried in France for financing terrorism.

The Paris court found that Lafarge paid nearly €5.6m via its subsidiary Lafarge CementSyria (LCS) to terror groups and intermediaries to keep its plant operating in northern Syria. The ruling follows a 2022 case in the United States in which the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated “terrorist” organisations and agreed to pay a $778m fine (£580m).

The presiding judge, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, said: 'This method of financing terrorist organisations, and primarily IS, was essential in enabling the terrorist organisation to gain control of Syria’s natural resources, allowing it to finance terrorist acts within the region and those planned abroad, particularly in Europe.' Lafarge had finished building a $680m factory in Jalabiya in 2010, just beforeSyria’s civil war erupted in March the following year amid opposition to the brutal repression of anti-government protests by the then president, Bashar al-Assad.

The French national counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office had said in closing statements that Lafarge was guilty of financing 'terrorist' organisations with 'a single aim: profit'.