-Lafarge to pay $778 million in fines to US Justice Dept for supporting Daesh in Syria
Paris: French cement giant Lafarge will pay $778 million in fines to U.S. Justice Department after pleading guilty to U.S. charges of supporting the Daesh terrorist group by operating its factory in Syria after conflict broke out in 2011, according to a court hearing.
The admission in Brooklyn federal court marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, is also facing charges of complicity in crimes against humanity in Paris.
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 acknowledged that it paid nearly 13 million euros ($12.8 million) to middlemen to keep its Syrian cement factory running in 2013 and 2014, long after other firms had pulled out of the country.
Lafarge SA and its defunct subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria “have agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations in Syria,” it said.
“Lafarge SA and LCS have accepted responsibility for the actions of the individual executives involved, whose behavior was in flagrant violation of Lafarge’s Code of Conduct.
“We deeply regret that this conduct occurred and have worked with the US Department of Justice to resolve this matter.”
Holcim Group, the Swiss conglomerate which took over Lafarge in 2015, said the U.S. Justice Department had cleared it of any wrongdoing.
It said it only learned of the allegations in 2016, and launched its own probe and cooperated with U.S. justice authorities.
“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,” it said in a parallel statement.
The statements came shortly before a planned press conference by Justice Department officials in New York to announce the settlement of the longstanding case. Shares of Holcim were temporarily suspended on the Swiss stock exchange after news of the fine emerged.
Lafarge is a French industrial company specializing in cement, concrete, and construction aggregates. The company was accused of paying almost 13 million euros ($13.68 million) to foreign groups, including the terrorist group Daesh, to maintain their factory presence in the city of Jalabiya in northern Syria during the civil war.
CEO Bruno Lafont and eight Lafarge executives were also accused of financing a terrorist group and endangering the lives of others.
In 2019, the Paris Court of Appeals dismissed the charges of crimes against humanity, accepting the defense that payments made by Lafarge were not used in aiding or abetting the war effort. The other charges stood, though, including that of violating an EU embargo.
Lafarge has denied any wrongdoing in the allegations that it negotiated with terrorist organizations and has continued to fight all charges.
Documents obtained and published by AA earlier revealed that Lafarge constantly informed the French intelligence agencies about its ties with the Daesh terrorist group. –Agencies
