(Washington) French cement company Lafarge has been found guilty in a US federal court of paying off Jihadi groups (including ISIS) inside Syria to protect its operations from 2011 to 2015. The company pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to providing support to ISIS in Syria, marking the first time a company has admitted in the US to supporting a terrorist organisation. As part of its guilty plea, Lafarge agreed to forfeit $687m and pay a $90m fine.
In court,the French cement maker previously
admitted that its Syrian subsidiary had paid armed groups to protect staff at
the plant and keep the facility running, though it denied charges that it was
complicit in crimes against humanity. Lafarge chairman Magali Anderson said in
court that, from August 2013 until November 2014, former executives at the
company “knowingly and wilfully agreed to participate in a conspiracy to make
and authorise payments intended for the benefit of various armed groups in
Syria”. Adding:
“The individuals responsible for this
conduct have been separated from the company since at least 2017,”
Lafarge is also facing charges in Paris of
complicity in crimes against humanity for operating a factory in Syria after
the country's civil war broke out in 2011.
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