Displaying items by tag: Managers

Azerbaijan: An unidentified sender has threatened executive board members of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim Azerbaijan and their families. Turan Information Agency has reported that an alleged assault was perpetrated against a non-Azerbaijani manager of the company. Holcim Azerbaijan said, “Apparently the transparent activity of our company interferes with the interest of criminal forces.” Law enforcement authorities have launched a full investigation.

France: Bruno Lafont, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Lafarge, has been questioned in an investigation into the company’s conduct in Syria. Lafont was interviewed, as well as the former human resources chief Eric Olsen and former deputy managing director for operations Christian Herrault, according to sources quoted by Agence France Presse.

The investigation is attempting to determine whether LafargeHolcim’s predecessor company Lafarge Syria paid terrorist groups in Syria and how much managers knew about the situation. Lafont was the CEO of Lafarge during the period the inquiry is examining. Olsen later became CEO of LafargeHolcim but resigned after the completion of an internal review into the affair in April 2017, despite not being found personally culpable or even aware of the situation.

Syria: Three managers of LafargeHolcim were arrested in Paris on 29 November 2017 over allegations that Lafarge Syria, now part of the group, paid money to the Islamic State group in Syria in 2013 and 2014. They included Bruno Pescheux and Frédéric Jolibois. Pescheux was in charge of Lafarge Syria’s plant from 2008 until 2014. Jolibois took over in 2014 for a short while before the plant was abandoned. A third detainee was not named. Investigators are seeking to determine whether executives at Lafarge in Paris knew that payments were being made in Syria to insurgent groups.

LafargeHolcim has not commented on the arrests but has previously admitted ‘errors’ in its handling of events in Syria. It denies criminal wrongdoing and said that it had ‘put everything in place to ensure that this situation cannot be reproduced.’

A preliminary inquiry opened in France earlier in 2017 amid claims that Lafarge Syria had paid insurgent groups to keep roads clear around its plant in Jalabiya after the outbreak of war in Syria. In 2013, Islamic State representatives reportedly summoned two company managers in Syria to demand a cut of operations. They reportedly threatened to stop supplies to the plant and deliveries from it if they did not receive the money. The business is alleged to have paid Islamic State about Euro20,000/month, which represented 10% of the Euro5m that had reportedly been paid to a variety of armed groups.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has appointed three new Managers to its board with effect from 1 February 2016.

A new executive position will be created for the African / Eastern Mediterranean region. Hakan Gurdal from Turkish Sabancı Holding, previously responsible for the Turkish company's jointly-operated business with HeidelbergCement, will step into this new role. Jon Morrish will head HeidelbergCement's North American business. The third newcomer is Kevin Gluskie, who will lead the HeidelbergCement's business operations in the Asia-Pacific region.