Financing the jihad for their short-term profit line. A policy that in the long run is nothing less than suicidal.
“France’s Lafarge loses ruling in Syria ‘crimes against humanity’ case,” by Eleonore Dermy and Clare Byrne, AFP, September 7, 2021:
France’s top court on Tuesday overturned a decision by a lower court to dismiss charges brought against cement giant Lafarge for complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria’s civil war.
The ruling by the Court of Cassation marks a major setback for Lafarge, which is accused of paying nearly 13 millions euros ($15.3 million) to jihadist groups including the Islamic State (IS) to keep its cement factory in northern Syria running through the early years of the country’s war.
Lafarge’s lawyer refused AFP’s request for comment.
Lafarge, which merged in 2015 with Swiss group Holcim, has acknowledged that its Syrian subsidiary paid middlemen to negotiate with armed groups to allow the movement of staff and goods inside the war zone.
But it denies any responsibility for the money winding up in the hands of terrorist groups and has fought to have the case dropped.
The Paris Court of Appeal had in 2019 dismissed the crimes against humanity charge, saying it accepted that the payments were not aimed at abetting IS’s gruesome agenda of executions and torture.
It however ruled that the company be prosecuted on three other charges — financing terrorism, violating an EU embargo and endangering the lives of others.
Eleven former employees of Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) challenged the decision at the Court of Cassation, with the backing of NGOs.
Quashing the lower court’s finding on complicity, France’s highest court of appeal ruled Tuesday that “one can be complicit in crimes against humanity even if one doesn’t have the intention of being associated with the crimes committed.”
“Knowingly paying several million dollars to an organisation whose sole purpose was exclusively criminal suffices to constitute complicity, regardless of whether the party concerned was acting to pursue a commercial activity,” it added.
The judges added that “numerous acts of complicity” would go unpunished if courts adopted a more lenient interpretation….
born saturday says
so what is the french and rest european investment and loan to turkey then??? turkey is the mother of terrorism in the west since 2010 when it inherited the funding of all western mosques from saudi arabia… what is all that money??? it is common knowledge that european countries as much as usa governments fund terrorism… not to speak about private companies…
gravenimage says
I doubt the EU is going to see any of that money back.
gravenimage says
France: Cement corporation Lafarge paid $15,300,000 to jihad groups to keep Syria factory running
…………………
I wish I could say this short-sighted stupidity shocks me–instead, I imaging it is grimly common.
GreekEmpress says
Yep. Follow the money—
nicholas tesdorf says
Just a little bit of Jizzyah.
OLD GUY says
Yep it is always about the MONEY. Our governments and Corporations always help and protect the big business investments around the world. Payoffs to do business with criminals is never a good idea and our Governments should “never” be involved using our tax dollars. Corporations and individuals who knowingly support terrorist (the enemy) should be charged with treason.