(New York) Lafarge has pleaded guilty and will have to pay $778 million for collaborating with the “terrorist” group Islamic State (IS) in Syria, a file for which the cement manufacturer is being prosecuted in France for “crimes against humanity” .
Updated yesterday at 3:20 p.m.
The French group swallowed up by the Swiss company Holcim in 2015 agreed to bear the responsibility of some of its former leaders in order to settle the lawsuits of the American authorities, who believe that what Lafarge did during the Syrian conflict undermined the “national security” of the United States.
“In the midst of a civil war, Lafarge made the unthinkable choice to put money in the hands of ISIS, one of the most barbaric terrorist organizations in the world, in order to continue selling cement”, said Brooklyn federal prosecutor Breon Peace.
As Syria descended into chaos in 2013 and 2014, the company also “requested the help (of the terrorist group) to harm competition from Lafarge in exchange for part” of its sales, a- he lamented.
Extraterritorial action
According to American justice, Lafarge paid nearly 6 million to the EI group and the Al-Nostra Front between August 2013 and October 2014, in the form of direct payments, orders from suppliers controlled by EI or repayments of ‘a percentage of sales, plus $1.1 million to intermediaries.
These arrangements would have allowed him to generate 70 million in turnover.
The story resonated in Quebec mainly due to the presence of Paul Desmarais, Jr., on the company’s board of directors at the time of the events. The Power Corporation conglomerate was a significant indirect shareholder of Lafarge.
The financial sanction includes a fine of 91 million and 687 million corresponding to the assets illegally obtained or retained.
To justify this extraterritorial action against the actions of a French company in Syria, the number two of the Ministry of Justice, Lisa Monaco, explained to the press that “when companies and their leaders adopt behavior that threatens our national security – in this case by fueling a violent terrorist organization – the ministry will react with determination”.
Indictment in France
For the same facts, Lafarge is charged in France with “complicity in crimes against humanity”.
As part of this judicial investigation opened in June 2017, the group is suspected of having paid several million euros in 2013 and 2014 to “terrorist” groups and intermediaries.
The investigation of the French justice evaluated these payments between 4.8 and 10 million euros for the only group EI. Lafarge is also suspected of selling cement from the factory to IS and paying intermediaries to source raw materials from jihadist factions.
The Lafarge name dropped
Holcim shares closed 3% higher on Tuesday, as investors generally appreciate when a company settles a lawsuit.
Holcim claims to be in no way involved in this affair prior to the merger with Lafarge in 2015 to create a concrete giant which was first called LafargeHolcim. The Lafarge name was dropped last year and reverted to simply Holcim.