Lafarge in Syria: court rules company violated ex-CEO's presumption of innocence

In Paris a court ruled Tuesday that the cement company Lafarge, accused of paying jihadist groups to maintain its activities in Syria until 2014, and its Swiss owner Holcim, violated the presumption of innocence of its former CEO Bruno Lafont and three former executives.

Lafarge is suspected of having paid, in 2013 and 2014, through a Syrian subsidiary, more than 5 million euros in "taxes" and purchases of raw materials to jihadist groups, including the Islamic State (IS) group, and to intermediaries, in order to maintain the activity of a cement plant in Jalabiya, despite the war. The French company, now a subsidiary of the Swiss group Holcim, pleaded guilty in the U.S. to these actions in 2022 and then paid a $778 million fine.

Holcim and Lafarge subsequently turned against Lafont, the cement company CEO from 2007 to 2015, and three other former group executives, as well as a Syrian businessman, summoning them before the Paris economic activities court. At the hearing on Jan. 27, they had demanded 200 million euros in compensation for the "damage suffered," to be paid jointly. A request to which the court decided Tuesday to stay ruling, "pending the end of the ongoing criminal proceedings," according to the judgment consulted by AFP. In the same decision, the court, however, ruled that "it is necessary, without stating the proceedings, to rule on any possible compensation for the damage suffered" by Lafont and the three former executives "due to the non-respect by Lafarge SA and Holcim" of their "presumption of innocence." A further hearing will need to be set for their claims.

The ex-CEO notably believed that Lafarge and Holcim went against his presumption of innocence and his ability to defend himself by publicly commenting on the guilty plea agreement concluded with the DOJ, the U.S. Department of Justice. At issue, statements around this agreement in which he could be recognized in the term "former leaders of Lafarge SA," without any warning that would emphasize the presumption of innocence of the "involved" executives.

The former CEO, 68 years old and now retired, was claiming 2.5 million euros in compensation. He denies having knowledge of the payments in Syria and contests, like the other former leaders, any involvement. "We are satisfied to see that the violation of Lafont's presumption of innocence was recognized" by the court, which "ruled that Lafarge and Holcim in their statements around the guilty plea committed an error," reacted his lawyer Quentin de Margerie to AFP.

Lafarge's activities in Syria are the subject of two cases before the courts in Paris: one matter in which Lafarge, Lafont, and seven other former officials will have to answer in Paris’s criminal court at the end of 2025 for "financing terrorist enterprises."

In another aspect, Lafarge is under investigation for suspicions of "complicity in crimes against humanity of the company," an extremely rare charge for a business.