A Paris court on Monday found cement maker Holcim’s Lafarge unit guilty of charges that its Syrian subsidiary financed terrorism and violated European sanctions to keep a factory operating in northern Syria during the country’s civil war.

Eight former Lafarge employees, including executives, were also found guilty of financing terrorism.

Judges determined that the company Lafarge paid a total of 5.59 million euros ($6.53 million) to terrorist groups, including Daesh and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front — both designated terrorist entities by the EU — between 2013 and September 2014.

The presiding judge, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, said the payments made by Lafarge helped strengthen groups that carried out attacks. deadly in Syria and beyond.

“The court is fully convinced that the sole purpose of funding a terrorist organization was to keep the Syrian factory operating for economic reasons. Payments to terrorist entities enabled Lafarge to continue its operations,” Prevost-Desprez said.

“These payments took the form of a true commercial partnership with Daesh,” she added.

There was no reaction from immediately from the companies Lafarge or Holcim.

In 2021, a TRT World investigation revealed Lafarge’s illegal activities in Syria and how the factory served as a cover for the French secret services.

The documentary, titled “Factory: A French Covert Operation”, revealed France’s operation to support the terrorist organization Daesh through the French cement giant Lafarge.

It was the result of an investigation two years and the analysis of more than half a million documents, revealing one of the darkest episodes of the Syrian civil war.

The documentary detailed why the Lafarge company decided to stay in Syria and keep its factory operating throughout the war, how EU funds were diverted to the terrorist groups Daesh and the PKK, with the knowledge and cover-up of French intelligence agencies.

The investigation also focuses on the steps that politicians and agencies of French intelligence took to save the Lafarge company from legal proceedings, and how the financing process of Daesh in Syria ended up financing the Paris attacks of 2015.

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Source: prizrenpost