The investigation into Lafarge in Syria scrutinized by the Court of Cassation on Tuesday

Still prosecuted for "financing of terrorism", the group is suspected of having paid nearly 13 million euros to jihadist groups, to maintain its activity in Syria until 2014 despite the war.

"Cloudy arrangements"

On June 21, 2016, Le Monde claims that Lafarge attempted, in 2013 and 2014, to operate "at all costs" its plant in Syria, "at the cost of murky and shameful arrangements with the surrounding armed groups", including the Islamic State organization (IS). These "arrangements" aimed to continue production until September 19, 2014, when IS took over the site and the cement manufacturer announced the cessation of all activity.

Lafarge, which merged in 2015 with Swiss company Holcim, assures us that its "top priority" has "always been to ensure the safety and security of its staff".

Located 150 km northeast of Aleppo, the cement plant was purchased by Lafarge in 2007 and started up in 2011.

complaints

In September 2016, the Ministry of the Economy filed a complaint, triggering the opening of a preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office and the referral to the national judicial customs service (SNDJ).

The complaint concerns a ban on buying oil in Syria, issued by the European Union as part of a series of sanctions against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

In November, Lafarge was targeted by another complaint lodged by two NGOs, which went so far as to demand prosecution for "complicity in crimes against humanity": the Sherpa association and the European Center for Constitutional Rights and Human Rights. Man (ECCHR). Another association, the Coordination of Eastern Christians in Danger (Chredo), will join them later.

Investigation

On June 9, 2017, the Paris prosecutor's office opened a judicial investigation for "financing a terrorist enterprise" and "endangering the lives of others".

The SNDJ for its part concludes in its report that Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), the Syrian branch of the group, has "made payments to jihadist groups" so that the cement plant continues to operate. The French management of Lafarge has, according to him, "validated these remittances by producing false accounting documents".

Charges

On December 1, two former directors of the Syrian subsidiary, Bruno Pescheux and Frédéric Jolibois, and the group's security director, Jean-Claude Veillard, are indicted for "financing a terrorist company" and "endangering of the life of others ".

A few days later, Bruno Lafont, former CEO (2007-2015), Eric Olsen, HRD at the material time, and the former deputy operational director general Christian Herrault are indicted.

In total, eight executives and managers are indicted for financing a terrorist company and / or endangering the lives of others.

In addition, one of the men suspected of having served as an intermediary, a Syrian-Canadian, was indicted at the end of August 2019 for "financing terrorism".

"Complicity in crimes against humanity"

On June 28, 2018, Lafarge was indicted for "complicity in crimes against humanity", "financing a terrorist company", "endangering the life" of former employees and "violation of an embargo" .

The group and three leaders appeal and dispute the grounds for the investigation.

On October 24, 2019, the Court of Appeal declared inadmissible the civil party constitutions of four complainant associations (Sherpa, ECCHR, Chredo and Life for Paris). The first two decide to appeal in cassation.

On November 7, the Court of Appeal quashed Lafarge's indictment for "complicity in crimes against humanity", the most serious, but it maintains the other three indictments.