French court convicts Lafarge Cement, officials of paying $6.5m to ISIS, other jihadist groups

A Paris court has found French cement giant Lafarge guilty of financing terrorism after the company paid $6.5 million to jihadist groups, including the Islamic State and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, to keep its Syrian factory operational during the country’s civil war.

The verdict, delivered Monday, marks the first time a company has been tried in France for terrorism financing. The case has been under investigation since 2017.

Lafarge’s former chief executive, Bruno Lafont, was sentenced to six years in prison, while former deputy managing director Christian Herrault received a five-year sentence. The company, now owned by Swiss conglomerate Holcim, was fined €1.125 million.

Lafarge’s Syrian factory began operations in 2010, shortly before the uprising that triggered the country’s civil war. While other multinationals exited Syria in 2012, Lafarge withdrew only its foreign staff, leaving Syrian workers at the plant until September 2014 when IS seized the facility after declaring its so-called caliphate across parts of Syria and Iraq.

Prosecutors told the court that Lafarge paid intermediaries to guarantee free movement for its employees and trucks, as workers were housed in the nearby town of Manbij and had to cross the Euphrates river to reach the plant.

Presiding judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez said the payments were clearly intended to keep the factory running, but that the funds helped strengthen groups responsible for attacks in Syria and beyond. The payments were, she said, “essential in enabling the terrorist organisations to gain control of Syria’s natural resources,” ultimately financing attacks within the region and in Europe.

Herrault had argued the decision to maintain operations was driven by concern for local staff. Lafarge acknowledged the court’s findings, describing the conduct as a “flagrant violation” of its code of conduct.

Lafarge is one of Nigeria’s major cement producers, with an installed capacity of about 10.5 million metric tonnes annually across four plants. The company announced expansion plans earlier this year for its Ashaka plant in Gombe State and Sagamu plant in Ogun State, targeting combined additional capacity of 5.5 million metric tonnes.

Last August, Holcim sold its entire 83.81 per cent stake in Lafarge Africa Plc to Chinese firm Huaxin Cement in a deal valued at $1 billion.

The conviction comes as Nigeria intensifies scrutiny of terrorism financing networks. Last Saturday, the Federal Government published a list of 48 individuals and groups allegedly linked to terrorism financing, including ISWAP — the Islamic State’s West Africa affiliate — alongside Finland-based separatist figure Simon Ekpa and Kaduna publisher Tukur Mamu, who is currently standing trial in Nigeria on related charges.

President Bola Tinubu has previously described terrorism in Africa as “an imported evil.”