Lafarge pays 778 million {dollars} in the US for having helped “terrorist” organizations

Lafarge, now underneath the management of the Swiss group Holcim, introduced on Tuesday that it had agreed to pay a monetary penalty of 778 million {dollars} to the US and to plead responsible to having helped “terrorist” organizations in Syria, together with the Islamic State group. , between 2013 and 2014.

The French cement group has “accepted accountability for the actions of the person executives concerned, whose conduct was in flagrant violation of codes of conduct,” Lafarge stated in a press release, including “deeply remorse” these acts.

Lafarge factors out that the US Division of Justice acknowledged that the group had put in place acceptable management procedures to henceforth detect, and keep away from, any conduct of this nature and had subsequently thought-about that it was “not essential”. to nominate an unbiased monitor.

Learn additionally: Why Holcim is altering radically

Survey in France

The group additionally stresses that it’ll proceed to cooperate absolutely with the investigation by the French authorities on the identical topic, however can also be able to “defend itself in opposition to any authorized motion that it considers unjustified”. The corporate is charged in France for “complicity in crimes in opposition to humanity” regarding its actions in Syria.

It’s suspected of getting paid in 2013 and 2014, via its Syrian subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), a number of million euros to terrorist teams, together with the Islamic State (IS) group, in addition to to intermediaries, as a way to to keep up the exercise of a cement manufacturing unit in Syria in Jalabiya whereas the nation was sinking into the conflict. The investigation by the French authorities estimated that these funds may have reached between 4.8 and 10 million euros for the EI group alone. Lafarge can also be suspected of promoting cement from the manufacturing unit to IS and paying intermediaries to supply uncooked supplies from jihadist factions.

The shares of Holcim, the father or mother firm of Lafarge, had been briefly suspended from the Swiss inventory trade on Tuesday after the publication of the primary data on the settlement with the American ministry of Justice.

Learn additionally: Lafarge’s indictment for complicity in crimes in opposition to humanity confirmed