PARIS
The trial of French cement giant Lafarge on charges of financing a terrorist organization has been postponed to Nov. 18, the Paris Criminal Court announced Wednesday.
The court decided to adjourn the case, in which Lafarge and eight individuals are being tried for allegedly financing a terrorist group, according to reports in the French media.
The court found irregularities in the referral order of Bruno Pescheux, the former director of Lafarge’s Syrian subsidiary between 2008 and 2014, and sent the decision back to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) for correction.
Hearings are expected to resume in Paris and continue until Dec. 19.
Anadolu published evidence proving Lafarge financed ISIS
On Sept. 7, 2021, Anadolu drew international attention by publishing documents proving that Lafarge financed the ISIS (Daesh) terrorist group with the knowledge of French intelligence.
According to the documents, the firm regularly informed French intelligence services about its relations with ISIS, while French intelligence and state institutions failed to warn Lafarge that it was committing crimes against humanity by financing terrorism, as admitted in confidential records.
ISIS used cement purchased from the French firm to build terrorist shelters and tunnels.
As part of an investigation launched in June 2017, several senior executives, including Lafarge’s ex-CEO Bruno Lafont, were charged with financing terrorism.
The charge of complicity in crimes against humanity brought against the company in 2018 was dropped in 2019, but civil parties to the case — the international anti-corruption non-governmental organization (NGO) Sherpa and the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) — filed an appeal.
On Sept. 7, 2021, France’s Court of Cassation issued a ruling allowing Lafarge to be charged with complicity in crimes against humanity over its financing of ISIS terrorists in Syria.
In May 2022, the Paris Court of Appeals approved the launch of an investigation into Lafarge — whose financing of ISIS was proven by documents obtained by Anadolu — on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity.
In January 2024, France’s Court of Cassation rejected a request to drop the complicity in crimes against humanity charges against Lafarge, allowing the investigation to proceed
That October, three investigating judges decided that the Lafarge group and four of its former executives would stand trial on charges of financing a terrorist group and violating the EU embargo that bans all financial and commercial relations with terrorist groups, including ISIS.