Paris (AFP)
The Paris Court of Appeal has postponed to November 7 its decision on the validity of Lafarge's indictments for "financing of terrorism" and "complicity in crimes against humanity" in Syria, challenged by the cementist, has - Thursday learned lawyers.
The group's actions for annulment, as well as those of three executives - ex-CEO Bruno Lafont, his former safety director Jean-Claude Veillard and one of the former directors of the Syrian subsidiary, Frédéric Jolibois - had been examined on 20 June.
In this case, eight executives or leaders in total were indicted for "financing of terrorism" and / or "endangering" in this judicial information opened in June 2017, one year after revelations of the newspaper Le Monde. By the end of 2016, Bercy, then the Sherpa associations and the European Center for Constitutional Rights and Human Rights (ECCHR) had filed suit.
In June 2018, Lafarge was in turn prosecuted for "complicity in crimes against humanity", "financing of terrorism", "violation of an embargo" and "endangering life" of former employees of his factory from Jalabiya (north).
In this extraordinary case, Lafarge SA, owner of Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), is suspected of having paid in 2013 and 2014, through this subsidiary, nearly 13 million euros to jihadist groups, including the state organization Islamic Republic (IS), and intermediaries to maintain the activity of its site in Syria, while the country sank into the war.
The group is also suspected of selling cement from the plant to IS and paying intermediaries to buy raw materials from jihadist factions.
If the existence of remittances to "armed groups" came out of an internal investigation report, Lafarge SA denies any responsibility in the destination of these payments to terrorist organizations and rejects accusations of "complicity in crimes against humanity. "
© 2019 AFP