Lafarge pleads guilty to US charge of supporting Islamic State
Clouds over the Zurich offices of LafargeHolcim, as the Holcim Group was known until last year
Keystone / Patrick B. Kraemer
French cement maker Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, has pleaded guilty to a US charge that it made payments to groups designated as terrorists by the United States, including Islamic State.
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Lafarge se declara culpable del cargo de apoyar al Estado Islámico
The admission in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organisation.
Lafarge is also facing charges of complicity in crimes against humanity in Paris for keeping a factory running in Syria after a conflict broke out in 2011.
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Complicity in crimes against humanity: court upholds charge against Lafarge
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A court says Lafarge must face charges of complicity in crimes against humanity over alleged payoffs to Islamic State group during Syria’s civil war.
Lafarge agreed to forfeit $687 million (CHF685 million) and pay a fine of $90 million in its guilty plea.
The cement maker previously admitted after an internal investigation that its Syrian subsidiary paid armed groups to help protect staff at the plant. But it had denied charges that it was complicit in crimes against humanity.
Lafarge Chair Magali Anderson said in court that from August 2013 until November 2014 former executives of 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”.
“The individuals responsible for this conduct have been separated from the company since at least 2017,” she said.
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In a statement on Tuesday, the Holcim Group noted that none of the conduct involved Holcim, “which has never operated in Syria, or any Lafarge operations or employees in the United States, and it is in stark contrast with everything that Holcim stands for”.
Holcim said that former Lafarge executives involved in the conduct concealed it from Holcim, as well as from external auditors.
“Holcim operates to the highest ethical standards in strict compliance with the laws of all its jurisdictions. Today’s resolution reaffirms Holcim’s commitment to conducting all its business with utmost integrity,” it said.
The SIX Swiss Exchange suspended trading in Holcim shares before the news.
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LafargeHolcim office searched over Syria business
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The Paris office of Franco-Swiss cement giant LafargeHolcim has been searched for information on financial links to jihadist groups in Syria.
LafargeHolcim admits to paying off armed groups in Syria
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On Thursday, the company issued a press release responding to allegations made in numerous publications in 2016 about the company making deals with Syrian armed groups. An independent investigation supervised by its board’s finance and audit committee revealed the then Syrian branch of the then Lafarge company (before its merger with Holcim) had dealt with…
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