By Al Mayadeen
According to documents obtained by Anadolu Agency, French company Lafarge funded ISIS and other terrorist organizations – and the French intelligence services enabled and benefited from it.
Lafarge, a French cement company that has stretched its tentacles in war-ridden areas like Syria and Iraq, has been reported to have funded ISIS with 13 million euros.
The backstory is that ISIS terrorists allowed Lafarge to carry out manufacturing in the facility they seized in northern Syria in exchange for 13 million euros.
Newly discovered documents, revealed by Anadolu Agency, reveal that Lafarge not only briefed French intelligence about its support and financing of ISIS and other terror organizations, but it also provided the French government with news and information about northern Syria. The French government, with said information, enabled coordination with ISIS.
The French company faces a series of lawsuits involving violations of the embargo on Syria, threatening the lives of their employees, and financing ISIS. The French Supreme court said Tuesday that the company should face an investigation on a charge of complicity in crimes in Syria.
A discussion on the relationship between Lafarge and ISIS was carried out in 2018 – an intelligence officer, code-named AM 02, appeared in court and gave a statement. According to the court transcript, the intelligence officer admitted that Lafarge was his source of information in Syria and that the French secret services took advantage of the cement factory in Syria. He also admitted that Lafarge provided cement to armed groups in Syria between 2012 and 2014, including ISIS and the Nusra Front.
However, despite all this, the French intelligence did not warn the company that this was a criminal act – there has been no sign of condemnation for the sponsor of terrorism.
Over 30 meetings were carried out between Lafarge and the French domestic, foreign, and military intelligence services between 2013 and 2014 alone.
According to a report by US consultant Baker McKenzie, some $500,000 was paid out to ISIS; the rest of the $5.6 million was distributed among other militants between 2012 and 2014. Conducted in a form of bribery, the money was paid so that factory production would continue uninterrupted.
With the cement provided to ISIS, the terrorist group built shelters and tunnels; on the other side, Lafarge used false contracts to buy fuel from them.
Lafarge was investigated on charges of “complicity in crimes against humanity.” However, it denied said charges. Nonetheless, eight company executives were charged with financing terrorism and cooperating in crimes against humanity.
Charges regarding “complicity in crimes against humanity,” pressed in June 2018, were dropped in November 2019.
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