French Court Finds Cement Giant Lafarge Guilty of Financing Terrorism in Syria

A Paris court on Monday found French cement maker Lafarge and eight former employees guilty of financing terrorism, marking the first time a company has been tried and convicted on such charges in France. Former chief executive Bruno Lafont received a six-year prison sentence and a 500,000 euro fine, while former deputy chief executive Christian Herrault was sentenced to five years in prison with immediate incarceration. The court determined that Lafarge paid approximately 5.6 million euros to jihadist groups, including the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front, between 2013 and September 2014 to keep its Jalabiya cement plant in northern Syria operational. Lafarge, now part of the Swiss-based Holcim Group, was ordered to pay a fine of 1.125 million euros for financing terrorism — the maximum applicable penalty — and an additional 4.57 million euros customs fine jointly with four former officials for non-compliance with international financial sanctions.

Judge says payments formed "commercial partnership" with ISIS Presiding Judge Isabelle Prévost-Desprez delivered the ruling with pointed language about the nature of the transactions, stating that the payments had enabled jihadists to prepare terrorist attacks, including those carried out in France in January 2015. „It is clear to the court that the sole objective of financing a terrorist organization was to keep the Syrian factory running for economic reasons. The payments to terrorist entities allowed Lafarge to continue its operations.” — Isabelle Prévost-Desprez via Publico The court found that more than 800,000 euros were paid to guarantee safe passage for employees crossing the Euphrates River to reach the factory, while another 1.6 million euros were used to purchase raw materials from quarries under ISIS control. Seven other former Lafarge officials received sentences ranging from 18 months to seven years in prison. Defense lawyers announced their intention to appeal, describing the judgment as "disproportionate," according to L'Opinion. Lawyers representing former Syrian employees who were civil parties in the case called the ruling "an essential milestone in the fight against the impunity of multinationals operating in conflict zones."

Factory purchased for $680 million, abandoned by rivals years earlier Lafarge acquired the Jalabiya factory in northern Syria in 2008 for approximately 680 million dollars and began operations in 2010, just months before the civil war erupted in early 2011. While most multinational corporations had withdrawn from Syria by 2012 — including French oil company Total, which left in 2011 — Lafarge chose to keep its Syrian workforce in place after evacuating only its expatriate employees. The company's leadership gave orders to keep the factory running at any cost, according to reporting by El Mundo, unwilling to absorb the loss on its substantial investment. The payments to jihadist groups were made through the company's Syrian subsidiary, Lafarge Cement Syria, which prosecutors said channeled funds through intermediaries and directly to armed groups. The court emphasized that the financing was not incidental but constituted a deliberate commercial arrangement that strengthened organizations simultaneously conducting mass killings, torture, and enslavement in the regions they controlled.

The Lafarge affair has shadowed the company's reputation for more than a decade. Lafarge was founded in 1833 and is among the world's largest cement manufacturers. In 2015, it merged with Swiss company Holcim to form LafargeHolcim, later renamed the Holcim Group. Prior to the French verdict, Lafarge had already pleaded guilty in a United States case in 2022, admitting its Syrian subsidiary paid six million dollars to the Islamic State and the Nusra Front between 2013 and 2015 to allow employees, customers, and suppliers to pass through militant checkpoints.

Lafarge Syria payments breakdown: Safe passage fees (before: Purpose: employee access across Euphrates, after: Over 800,000 euros paid); Raw materials purchases (before: Quarries under ISIS control, after: 1.6 million euros paid); Total terrorism financing (before: Payments to ISIS, al-Nusra Front, others, after: Approximately 5.6 million euros)

Fines fall far short of prosecutors' confiscation demands Prosecutors had sought not only the 1.13 million euro fine but also the confiscation of assets worth 30 million euros — the maximum penalty applicable to a company under French law — a demand the court did not fully grant. The 1.125 million euro terrorism fine, combined with the 4.57 million euro customs penalty, brings Lafarge's total court-ordered financial liability to just under 5.7 million euros, a figure roughly equivalent to the total payments the company made to the jihadist groups themselves. The Holcim Group and Lafarge issued no immediate public reaction following the verdict, according to multiple reports. The case drew attention across Europe as a test of whether corporate entities could be held criminally liable for financing designated terrorist organizations in conflict zones. The conviction sets a legal precedent in France and may influence how prosecutors in other jurisdictions approach cases involving multinationals operating in war-affected regions.

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