Former Lafarge CEO Jailed In France For Funding Syrian Jihadists

<p><em>Edited by: Darko Janjevic</em></p> <p>A Paris court on Monday found the former CEO of Lafarge, Bruno Lafont, and eight other former employees guilty of financing terrorism in Syria.</p> <p>Lafont has reportedly been jailed for six years and the company ordered to pay a 1.125 million euro fine ($1.3 million). Seven other employees were also found guilty on terrorism charges.</p> <p>Judges determined that the world's largest cement manufacturer had funnelled some &euro;5.6 million ($6.53 million) to groups including the "Islamic State"(IS) and Nusra Front in order to keep their operations in the country going.</p> <p>"These payments took the form of a genuine commercial partnership &zwnj;with the Islamic State," said presiding Judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez</p> <h2><strong>Why Was Lafarge Involved In Syria?</strong></h2> <p>A subsidiary of the Swiss building conglomerate Holcim, Lafarge is a major player in the construction industry worldwide.</p> <p>In 2010, it invested &euro;680 million into a factory in Syria, just a year before the country would be engulfed in Civil War for over a decade. While most multinationals had pulled out of Syria by 2012, Lafarge evacuated only its expatriate employees and left its Syrian workforce in place.</p> <p>Before the French case, it had already pled guilty in a US suit to funding "IS" and Nusra Front between 2013 and 2015 so that its Jalabiya plant could keep running.</p> <p>At the time, it was well-known that the groups were participating in torture, enslavement, and mass killings in the regions they occupied, which at times included the Lafarge plant.</p> <p>The case marked the first time in France that a whole company was tried for financing terrorism.</p> <p><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on <strong>ABP Live</strong> as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by <strong>ABP Live.</strong></p>

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