Paris trial probes Lafarge terror financing charges

The trial of Holcim subsidiary Lafarge begins in Paris Keystone-SDA

The terrorist financing trial of cement maker Lafarge, which is a subsidiary of the Swiss company Holcim, has begun in Paris.

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The first hearing focused on legal issues, in this case priority questions of constitutionality.

The former directors of Lafarge’s cement plant in Jalabiya, Syria, Bruno Pescheux and Frédéric Jolibois, then Christian Herrault, Lafarge’s deputy managing director in charge of operations from 2013 to mid-2014, and Bruno Lafont, the former chairman and managing director of the hexagonal company, were called to testify before the presiding judge, Isabelle Prévost-Desprez, on Tuesday afternoon at the Judicial Court of Paris.

Eight defendants in all are being prosecuted, as well as the French cement manufacturer Lafarge as a legal entity, a subsidiary of the Zug giant Holcim since 2015, for financing terrorism – a first for a company – and some for violating international sanctions.

The company has been referred to the criminal court in Paris on suspicion of having paid nearly €5 million to jihadist organisations, including the Islamic State, in order to keep its Syrian cement plant operating as the country sank into civil war in the early 2010s. The plant took nearly 3 years to build, at a cost of around $680 million, according to the company.

Jacob Waerness, described as a former member of the Norwegian intelligence services by the French press and resident in Zurich, will also be called to the stand to answer charges of financing terrorist enterprises in his capacity as the plant’s “security manager”. In particular, he is accused of having “knowingly” made “payments to terrorist organisations”, according to the president.

The hearing then moved to the seven questions of constitutionality (QPC) raised by the civil parties, to which Lafarge’s defence began to respond. During a trial, any litigant can challenge the constitutionality of the law.

If these QPCs are deemed admissible and forwarded to the Court of Cassation, the trial, which is supposed to last until December 16, could be postponed for up to six months. “Ms Prévost-Desprez added: “We’ll be in suspense until tomorrow, Wednesday, when the court will have made its decision.

Civil parties question law

The lawyers for the civil parties opened the proceedings, led by Joseph Breham, who represents 137 Syrian employees and who has filed two QPCs. “For ten years, these employees have been telling us when it’s going to be over. He assures us that they are “not going to delay”. “But if we win this case, we’ll meet again in a year or two”.

Questioned before the hearing, the lawyer underlined the particularity of the case, according to which Lafarge has already acknowledged having financed terrorist groups, and did so in the United States in 2022. “What is certain is that Lafarge no longer has the right to contest the veracity of the facts”, noted Mr Breham, following the agreement reached between the cement manufacturer and the US Department of Justice (DoJ). “This does not mean that Lafarge cannot defend itself, for example on legal points”.

Three years ago, Lafarge pleaded guilty in the US to aiding terrorist organisations between 2013 and 2014 and was fined $778 million. At the time, Holcim, which abandoned its Lafargeholcim name in the spring of 2021, stressed that the DoJ recognised “that the facts in no way implicated Holcim”. According to the building materials giant, the DoJ noted “that former Lafarge executives concealed these actions from Holcim before and after Holcim’s acquisition of Lafarge SA in 2015”.

In addition, an investigation is still underway in Paris into suspicions that Lafarge was complicit in crimes against humanity in Syria. In January 2024, the Court of Cassation, France’s highest judicial body, definitively validated this indictment, making another trial possible, this time before the assizes.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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