French cement maker Lafarge found guilty of financing jihadists in Syria

A Paris court on Monday found cement maker Holcim's Lafarge unit guilty of charges that its Syrian subsidiary financed terrorism and ​breached European sanctions to keep a plant operating in northern Syria during the country's ‌civil war.

Eight former Lafarge employees, including executives, were also found guilty of financing terrorism.

Judges determined that Lafarge in total paid 5.59 million euros ($6.53 million) to jihadist groups including Islamic State (IS) and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front-- both designated as terrorists by the EU, between 2013 and September 2014.

The presiding judge, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, said the payments made by Lafarge helped strengthen jihadist 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 the Islamic State," she added.

There was no immediate reaction from Lafarge or Holcim.

The case was the first time a ​company was tried in France for financing terrorism.

The Jalabiya plant, located in northern Syria and bought by Lafarge in 2008 for $680 million and began operations in 2010, months before the beginning of the Syrian uprising ‌in ⁠early 2011. Prosecutors told the court the payments were made between 2013 and September 2014.

They said 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 were paid to secure safe passage.

Another 1.6 million ​euros were used to ⁠purchase source materials from quarries that were under IS control, the court said.

Lafarge became part of Switzerland-listed Holcim in 2015.

Prosecutors sought that Lafarge pay ​a 1.13 million euro fine and have assets worth 30 million euros ​confiscated, the maximum ⁠penalty available for a company. The court has not yet handed down its sentence against the company.

In a separate case in the United States, Lafarge admitted in 2022 that its Syrian subsidiary paid $6 million ⁠to IS and the Nusra Front to allow employees, customers and suppliers to pass through checkpoints after civil conflict broke out in Syria.

The group paid $778 million in forfeiture and fines as part of its US plea agreement.