The Paris Criminal Court is preparing to try French construction materials giant Lafarge and its senior executives on Tuesday.
The trial of French company Lafarge and its former executives, accused of ‘providing financial support to terrorist organizations’ in Syria, will begin in Paris. The hearings in this landmark case will continue until December 16.
The company and its executives are accused of providing financial support to jihadist groups, including ISIS, in order to keep its cement factory in northern Syria operational.
According to AFP, in addition to Lafarge, which was acquired by the Swiss Holcim group in 2015, the following individuals will be tried in the case:
Lafarge’s former CEO Bruno Lafont, five former executives involved in the company’s operational and security chain, and two Syrian intermediaries, one of whom is wanted on an international arrest warrant.
The defendants face charges of “providing financial support to a terrorist organization” and “failing to comply with international financial sanctions imposed on Syria following the 2011 revolution.”
In the indictment announced by French judges in October 2024, the company and eight defendants were requested to stand trial on charges of “financing terrorist organizations and violating financial sanctions.”
The indictment stated that all defendants “organized, approved, facilitated, or implemented a policy involving the provision of financial support to terrorist organizations operating in the vicinity of the cement factory in the Chalabiya region of Syria, with the aim of generating profit for the economic entity they served or, for some, directly securing personal gain.”
French prosecutors suspect that the Lafarge group paid a total of approximately five million euros to groups defined as “terrorists” in 2013 and 2014 through its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria, including the Islamic State and the Al-Nusra Front, which is linked to Al-Qaeda.
Additionally, it is alleged that payments were made to intermediaries to protect the cement factory in Chalabiya, northern Syria, during the years of conflict that began in 2011.
The company invested €680 million in the facility, which was built in 2010. While other multinational companies left Syria in 2012, Lafarge only evacuated its foreign employees at that time and continued to employ Syrian staff until September 2014, when ISIS seized the facility.
The legal proceedings in Paris began in 2017 following news reports and two separate complaints. The first complaint was filed by the company’s Syrian branch associations and 11 former employees for “financing terrorism,” while the second complaint was filed by the Ministry of Economy for “violating the financial embargo imposed on Syria.”
The case is seen as a unique opportunity for the French justice system to address the responsibility assumed by multinational companies when operating in conflict zones.