France: The Lafarge group and several former senior officials will stand trial in Paris from 4 November 2025, accused of historically financing terrorist organisations, including Islamic State (IS). The aim of the alleged payments was to maintain operations at a cement plant in Jalabiya, northern Syria. The defendants include former CEO Bruno Lafont, five former managers and two Syrian intermediaries. They face charges of financing a terrorist enterprise and, for some, breaching international financial sanctions.
Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), the group’s Syrian subsidiary, is suspected of paying several million Euros between 2013 and 2014 to jihadi groups IS and Jabhat al-Nusra to secure raw materials and allow the movement of employees and goods. The €680m Jalabiya plant, completed in 2010, continued operating until IS took control in September 2014, two years after most other multinationals had left Syria.
An internal investigation in 2017 found ‘violations of Lafarge’s business code of conduct.’ Lafarge, which merged with Holcim in 2015, has said the events predated the merger. In October 2022, Lafarge pleaded guilty in the US to paying IS and Jabhat al-Nusra nearly US$6m and agreed to pay a US$778m penalty.
Former CEO Lafont has denied knowledge of the payments. His lawyers argue that the US plea “is a blatant attack on the presumption of innocence” and aimed to “preserve the economic interests of a large group.”
So far, 241 civil parties have joined the case. “More than ten years after the events, the former Syrian employees will finally be able to testify about what they endured: the checkpoint crossings, the kidnappings and the constant threat hanging over their lives,” said Sherpa legal officer Anna Kiefer. Lafarge faces a fine of up to €1.125m for financing terrorism, while penalties for violating the embargo could reach ten times the value of the offence. A separate investigation into alleged complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria and Iraq remains ongoing.
