Three investigating judges ordered, on Wednesday, October 16, the holding of a trial for financing terrorism against the Lafarge group and eight people, including former directors, accused of having continued the cement company’s activities in Syria until 2014, announced the Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing sources close to the matter.
all involved “have, in a logic of seeking profits for the economic entity they serve, or for some direct personal benefit, organized, validated, facilitated or implemented a policy that involves sending financing to terrorist organizations established around the factory cement » from Jalabiya (Syria), according to the order of referral to the criminal court consulted by AFP.
The Lafarge group, now a subsidiary of the Swiss group Holcim, and the eight defendants – members of the operational chain or the security chain, Syrian intermediaries, as well as the then CEO of Lafarge SA, Bruno Lafont – will be tried for financing . terrorist enterprises and, for some, failure to comply with international financial sanctions, from November 4 to December 9, 2025, according to a provisional schedule.
Defense lawyers contacted by AFP did not want to react or did not respond. The investigating judges, however, ordered the dismissal of the former security director, Jean-Claude Veillard, accused in this case since the end of 2017.
“Autonomy of decision”
“After seven years of relentless legal battle, Jean-Claude Veillard’s innocence has finally been established. “It’s a great relief.”his lawyers, Sébastien Schapira and Antoine Galudec, reacted to AFP. It is suspected that the group paid 5 million euros in 2013 and 2014, through its Syrian subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria, to jihadist groups, including the Islamic State (IS) organization, and to intermediaries to maintain the activity of a cement factory. in Jalabiya, as the country descended into war.
“The company maintained its autonomy in decision-making and could have ended the factory’s operation at any time, particularly when its managers became aware of the financial demands of the terrorist entities.the investigating judges write. By agreeing to pay these entities, the company evaluated the rewards it could obtain, such as the unblocking of roads, the free movement of trucks and factory employees thanks to the issuance of passes. »
The judicial investigation, opened in June 2017, into suspicions of the company’s complicity in crimes against humanity is still ongoing.
