📰 French Prosecutors Seek Prison and Fines in Lafarge Terror Financing Case

The French anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office in Paris has called for a €1. 125 million fine against cement giant Lafarge, and prison sentences of up to eight years for eight of its former executives. The most severe sentence sought relates to Syrian businessman Firas Tlass, who was absent from the trial and is currently the subject of an international arrest warrant, as per France 24. Lafarge is accused of paying money to groups designated as terrorist organisations in Syria up to the year 2014—including Islamic State (ISIS) and the al-Nusra Front, which was then affiliated with al-Qaeda—to keep its cement plant operating in Jalabiya, northern Syria. Furthermore, the prosecution also requested a six-year suspended prison sentence for the group’s former CEO, Bruno Lafont, alongside a €225,000 fine and a ten-year ban on holding any commercial, industrial, or managerial post.

As for Lafarge as a legal entity, prosecutors have requested partial confiscation of its assets, estimated at €30 million. France’s national customs oversight authority has separately demanded a joint customs fine of €4. 57 million against Lafarge and four co-defendants, citing violations of international financial sanctions. Company executives are on trial in Paris on charges of financing terrorism, having allegedly made payments in 2013 and 2014 through Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) to both ISIS and al-Nusra. This took place while numerous foreign firms had already suspended operations and exited Syria.

Lafarge also allegedly paid intermediaries to protect its factory during the height of the Syrian crisis. The trial commenced on 4 November, as declared by Radio Monte Carlo, and involves Bruno Lafont, five other former operational or security executives, and two Syrian intermediaries—one of whom, Firas Tlass, is subject to an international arrest warrant. The case also includes the company itself, which was acquired by Swiss-based Holcim in 2015. Origins of the Case Legal proceedings commenced in 2017 following investigative reports and formal complaints in 2016—one from the French Ministry of Economy for breaching Syria-related financial sanctions, and another from NGOs and 11 former Syrian employees of Lafarge, accusing the firm of financing terrorism. In parallel, Holcim, which had acquired Lafarge in 2015, launched its own internal investigation.

The company has consistently rejected involvement in events preceding the merger. A 2017 investigation by U. S. law firm Baker McKenzie and French firm Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier concluded that Lafarge had committed “violations of corporate conduct standards. Additionally, ” In October 2022, Lafarge pleaded guilty in a…