A court in Paris has found Lafarge, the French cement giant,
guilty of paying $6.5 million to jihadist groups, including the Islamic State
(IS) and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.
It is the first time a company has been tried in France for
financing terrorism. The inquiry against Lafarge has been running since 2017.
Bruno Lafont, Lafarge’s former CEO, was sentenced to six
years in prison for terrorism financing, while Christian Herrault, former
deputy managing director, received a five-year sentence in Monday’s ruling.
Lafarge said it acknowledged the court’s findings,
relaying that it was involved in practice that occurred more than a decade ago — one that was in “flagrant
violation of Lafarge’s Code of Conduct”.
‘FINANCING TERRORISM’
Lafarge’s factory began operations in 2010, just months
before the Syrian uprising triggered a civil war.
While other multinational companies left Syria in 2012,
Lafarge evacuated only its foreign employees, and left its Syrian staff in
place until September 2014, when IS, which declared a “caliphate” in parts of
Syria and Iraq, seized control of the factory.
Prosecutors said Lafarge employees were housed in the nearby
town of Manbig and needed to cross the Euphrates river to access the plant.
The court heard how the cement company paid intermediaries
to ensure free movement for employees and trucks.
Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, presiding judge, said it was clear
to the court that payments were intended to keep the company’s factory open but
noted that the money helped strengthen groups that carried out attacks in Syria
and abroad.
Those payments were “essential in enabling the terrorist
organisations to gain control of Syria’s natural resources, allowing it to
finance terrorist acts within the region and those planned abroad, particularly
in Europe,” Prevost-Desprez said.
She said the amount paid to jihadist organisations — which
was “never disclosed” — contributed to the “extreme gravity of the offences”.
Herrault had argued that the decision to keep the factory
open was made out of concern for local staff.
Lafarge, now owned by Swiss conglomerate Holcim, was fined
€1.125 million.
MAJOR CEMENT PRODUCER IN NIGERIA
With about 10.5 million metric tonnes per annum of installed
cement capacity across its four plants in Nigeria, Lafarge is one of the
country’s major cement producers.
In February, the company announced expansion plans for its
Ashaka plant in Gombe and Sagamu plant in Ogun.
Upon completion, the Ashaka plant is targeted to reach a
total annual capacity of two million metric tonnes while the Sagamu plant aims
for 3.5 million metric tonnes.
Last August, Holcim sold its entire 83.81 percent
shareholding in Lafarge Africa Plc to Huaxin Cement, a Chinese firm.
The transaction was valued at $1 billion on a 100 percent
equity basis, before dividend adjustments.
On Saturday, the federal government published a list of 48
individuals and groups allegedly linked to terrorism financing in Nigeria.
The publication came amid heightened scrutiny of financial
networks supporting armed groups and separatist movements, as authorities
intensify efforts to disrupt funding channels linked to insecurity across the
country.
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) was named in
the report as one of the extremist groups allegedly receiving funding from the
individuals listed in the report, some of which included Simon Ekpa, a
Finland-based separatist figure associated with a faction of IPOB and Tukur
Mamu, a Kaduna-based publisher who is currently facing trial in Nigeria over
alleged involvement in terrorism financing.
In Nigeria, IS operates mainly through ISWAP and is
notorious for attacks in the north-east and Lake Chad region.
President Bola Tinubu has described terrorism in Africa as
“an imported evil”.
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