France’s Lafarge faces trial for ties with terrorist group Do money and morality collide?  

Türkiye's Daily Sabah news website has published an article about a subsidiary of cement maker Holcim, which is set to face trial in France, Caliber.Az reprints the article.

France's anti-terrorism prosecutor and a lead plaintiff has announced that Lafarge, a subsidiary of cement maker Holcim, is set to face trial in France for allegedly financing terrorism and violating European sanctions to keep its Syrian plant running.

Lafarge has been the subject of an investigation into its operations in Syria since 2016, one of the most extensive corporate criminal proceedings in recent French legal history. Investigative judges in Paris gave the order for Lafarge to face trial on October 16. In a statement on October 17, Lafarge said it acknowledged the decision of the investigating judges.

Holcim shares fell nearly two per cent on October 16 trading after the news, before recovering a little to close 0.7 per cent lower. Investigations continue into allegations that Lafarge was complicit in crimes against humanity, part of the wider probe into how the group kept its factory running in Syria after war broke out in 2011, said the anti-corruption group Sherpa, which brought the criminal complaint against Lafarge. 

France's highest court in January rejected a request from Lafarge that charges of complicity in crimes against humanity be dropped from the investigation. The sanctions breach charges relate to a European ban on financial or commercial links to the Daesh terrorist group, Sherpa said.

By Naila Huseynova