Lafarge appeals conviction for financing terrorism

Lafarge appeals its conviction for financing terrorism Keystone-SDA

Cement manufacturer Lafarge, owned by Swiss giant Holcim, and all eight other defendants, including its former CEO Bruno Lafont, have appealed their convictions for financing terrorism in Syria in 2013 and 2014.

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They were all found guilty on April 13 by the Paris Criminal Court of having paid nearly €5.6 million to armed jihadist groups in 2013 and 2014 in order to keep a cement plant operating in Jalabiya, in northern Syria.

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The company, which, in the words of the lower court judgment, was “prepared to make any compromise with terrorist organisations”, was ordered to pay the maximum fine of €1.125 million, as well as a customs fine of €4.57 million, jointly and severally with four of its former executives, for failing to comply with international financial sanctions.

In addition to the former flagship of French industry, which was swallowed up by its Swiss rival Holcim, the criminal court severely punished seven former Lafarge executives, including its former CEO (2007-2015) Bruno Lafont.

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The judges criticised Lafont’s “bad faith” and “cowardice”, claiming that he had not been informed of the payments to jihadist groups, and handed down a sentence of six years’ imprisonment with a committal order. The former boss, who was subsequently incarcerated at the Santé prison in Paris, has since applied for his release.

Jail terms

His former right-hand man Christian Herrault, then deputy managing director of the multinational, who “presided over negotiations with the Islamic State in order to sign a profitable agreement for the plant with the terrorist organisation”, according to the judges, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, also with a committal order.

Bruno Pescheux, director of Lafarge’s Syrian branch from 2008 to 20 July 2014, who received the same sentence, escaped imprisonment due to his state of health.

The court also handed down sentences ranging from 18 months for a Norwegian Lafarge security manager to seven years’ imprisonment for the fugitive Syrian intermediary who managed relations and payments to jihadist groups.

Recognised as civil parties, the NGOs Sherpa and ECCHR hailed the first instance judgment as a “major victory in the fight against impunity for multinationals involved in serious human rights violations”.

Translated from French with AI/mga

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