"A historic case". International company is tried for terrorist financing for the first time

The Paris Criminal Court has begun the trial of cement manufacturer Lafarge, which is accused of paying money to the Islamic State group and other jihadists to support its activities in Syria. This was reported by French media, in particular Le Monde , france24 and others.

Earlier, a French company pleaded guilty in the United States to providing material support to terrorists and paid a fine of $778 million. This was the first time a corporation was charged with such a crime .

"This is a historic case: for the first time, an international company, including its directors, will be tried for terrorist financing," said Anna Kiefer, a representative of Sherpa, a civil society organization that filed a complaint against Lafarge in 2016.

In the French trial, which will last from November 4 to December 16, Lafarge, now a subsidiary of the Swiss Holcim group, is accused of paying millions of dollars in 2013-2014 to keep its cement plant in Syria.

The money was allegedly paid to the Islamic State group (ISIS) and the then al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra.

The defendants include Lafarge, its former director Bruno Lafont, five former employees of the operations and security departments, and two Syrian intermediaries. They are accused of financing terrorism and violating international sanctions.

One of the Syrians is under an international arrest warrant and is not expected to attend the trial.

Lafarge could face a fine of up to $1.2 million if found guilty of terrorist financing, and a much larger fine if found to have violated sanctions.

While other multinationals withdrew from Syria in 2012, Lafarge evacuated only its foreign employees, thus keeping local workers employed until September 2014, when the ISIS group seized the plant.

Holcim, which acquired Lafarge in 2015, says it was unaware of business dealings in Syria.

• In the early 2000s, Lafarge owned more than 80% of the shares of Mykolaivcement, a Ukrainian cement and gypsum producer in Lviv region. In 2013, the company was bought out by the Irish construction materials producer CRH.