New twist on this thorny issue. This Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had warned France about Lafarge’s collaboration with the “terrorist” group Daesh in Syria.
“When I explained how the cement giant Lafarge supported terrorist organizations in northern Syria… the French did not understand,” he said, adding that he informed his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
“I also said that to Macron. It has become the most important thing on France’s agenda at the moment,” he added. “Lafarge has become one of the most important institutions that support terrorism,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Direct payments to Daesh
Lafarge pleaded guilty in a US court on Tuesday and will pay $778 million for making the “unthinkable choice” in 2013 and 2014 to work with Daesh in Syria.
The French group, gobbled up by Switzerland’s Holcim in 2015, has agreed to take responsibility for some of its former leaders to settle the prosecution of the US authorities.
According to US justice, Lafarge paid close to six million dollars to the Daesh group and the Al-Nostra Front between August 2013 and October 2014, in the form of direct payments, orders from suppliers controlled by Daesh or reimbursements of ‘a percentage of sales’. plus $1.1 million to intermediaries.
According to US justice, company officials, including former CEO Bruno Lafont, were aware of the arrangements with the jihadists.
Lafarge also says it continues to cooperate fully with the French authorities’ investigation into the same dossier, but also says it is ready to “defend itself against any legal action it deems unjustified.” The company is accused in France of “complicity in crimes against humanity” in relation to its activities in Syria.
Source: BFM TV
