French cement firm admits Islamic State group payments, U.S. says

U.S. Atty. for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, center, speaks during a press conference Tuesday regarding the arrangement between French cement company Lafarge and Islamic State.(Yuki Iwamura / Associated Press)

BY ERIC TUCKER AND BOBBY CAINA CALVAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

OCT. 18, 2022 3:35 PM PT

NEW YORK —  French cement company Lafarge pleaded guilty Tuesday to paying millions of dollars to Islamic State to keep a plant operational in Syria — at a time when the militant group was engaged in torturing kidnapped Westerners — and agreed to pay roughly $778 million in penalties.The Justice Department described it as the first case of its kind, accusing the company of turning a blind eye to the conduct of Islamic State as it gained new territory and as Syria was mired in a brutal civil war. The company’s actions, already investigated by French authorities, occurred before it merged with Swiss company Holcim to form the world’s largest cement maker.Justice Department officials described it as the first instance in which a company has pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Lafarge and a long-defunct Syrian subsidiary entered the plea, agreeing to criminal fines of $90.78 million and a forfeiture of $687 million.ADVERTISEMENT“There is no justification — none — for a multinational corporation authorizing payments to a designated terrorist group. Such payments are egregious violations of our laws, justify maximum scrutiny by U.S. authorities, and warrant severe punishment,” said Assistant Atty. Gen. Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s top national security official.Prosecutors say the company routed nearly $6 million to Islamic State and Al Nusrah Front, another militant group, in 2013 and 2014. The payments weren’t because of any ideological alignment, the Justice Department said, but rather for simple economic advantage.The company had constructed a $680-million plant in northern Syria in 2011, and facing competition from cheaper imported cements, regarded the payments to Islamic State as a way to ensure the continued operations of the plant and to protect its employees and the transport of raw materials into the facility. The Justice Department accused the company of using fake contracts and falsified invoices to hide the partnerships.The payments came at a time when other companies were pulling operations out of the region and at a time when beheading videos released as publicity by Islamic State made clear to the world the group’s barbaric actions.