French company pleads guilty in US court to supporting ISIS in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A French company, specialized in making concrete, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making payments in millions of dollars to the Islamic State (ISIS) in order to keep a cement plant operating in Syria.
LaFarge SA agreed to pay $778 million in fines and forfeiture to resolve a US federal criminal charge related to the French company’s payments, which took place from August 2013 to October 2014, to ISIS and al-Nusra Front (now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS) in Syria.
“We deeply regret that this conduct occurred and have worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve this matter,” LaFarge said in a statement.
US prosecutors said that Lafarge paid the two terrorist groups, through intermediaries, the equivalent of approximately $5.92 million.
The French company, which became part of the multinational Swiss-listed company Holcim in 2015, said that people responsible for this have been separated from the company since 2017.
LaFarge became the first company pleading guilty in the US on charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. “Never before has a corporation been charged with providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations,” said US Attorney Breon Peace in a statement.