The decision of the French judges to prosecute the company “Lafarge” on charges of financing terrorism in Syria news

French judges referred the French cement company “Lafarge” to the Criminal Court on charges of financing “terrorism” against the background of the company’s ongoing operations in Syria until 2014.

The French news agency said that informed sources said that 8 people, including former leaders, were sent to the Criminal Court in the same case.

The group said that the order of referral to the Criminal Court stated that all the accused persons “with the purpose of seeking profit for the economic entity they serve, or to profit direct personal achievement for some of them, organized, approved, made possible or implemented. a policy that included funding terrorist groups operating in the area of ​​the company’s cement factory in the Jalabiya region of Syria.

It is suspected that, in the years 2013 and 2014, the company, through its Syrian branch, paid 5 million euros to intermediaries and armed groups, including ISIS, to facilitate the operation of the factory maintain cement in the Syrian city of Jalabiya.

“By agreeing to pay these groups, the company was evaluating the benefits they would receive, such as the opening of roads and the free movement of trucks and factory workers thanks to giving traffic permits,” said the investigating judges.

The group said the eight defendants, some of whom were members of the company’s operational and security chain, included Syrian intermediaries, as well as Lafarge’s general manager at the time, Bruno Lafont.

She said that the company and the eight individuals will be tried on charges of financing a terrorist group, and that some of them will also be tried on charges of non-compliance with the international financial sanctions imposed on Syria. .