Cement giant paid millions to terrorist groups

A Paris court has found Lafarge guilty of financing terrorism. The French cement giant paid around €5.6 million to jihadist groups between 2013 and 2014 to protect its factory in northern Syria.

French cement maker Lafarge has been found guilty of financing terrorism after paying millions of dollars to jihadist groups, including Islamic State, to keep its factory in northern Syria running during the civil war, the BCC reports.

A Paris court ruled that Lafarge paid around €5.6 million to terrorist groups between 2013 and 2014. Payments included €800,000 for safe passage and €1.6 million for raw materials from quarries under IS control.

Eight former Lafarge employees were also convicted of financing terrorism. Former CEO Bruno Lafont received a six-year prison sentence and former deputy managing director Christian Herrault five years.

– It is clear to the court that the sole purpose of funding a terrorist organisation was to keep the Syrian plant running for economic reasons, said judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez.

Lafarge, now owned by Swiss conglomerate Holcim, was fined just over €1 million. It is the first time a company has been tried in France for financing terrorism.

It is not the first legal reckoning for the company, however. In 2022, Lafarge paid $777 million in fines in the United States following a similar case.