Sageret | Paris | June 13, 2017 (AFP):
The inquiry into the Franco-Swiss cement manufacturer Lafarge Holcim, which was accused of having indirectly financed armed groups in Syria, was handed over to three investigating judges, the court said on Tuesday.
The judicial inquiry, opened on 9 June, targeted the heads of “terrorist enterprise financing” and “endangering the lives of others,” the prosecutor said. It was entrusted to two investigating judges of the financial center and to a magistrate instructor of the anti-terrorist division.
The investigation, also revealed by France Inter, will have to determine the links that the cement giant has maintained with several groups in Syria, including the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS), to continue to operate the Jalabiya cement plant, in the north of the country, despite the civil war. IS eventually seized the site in September 2014.
Lafarge Holcim is the subject of several complaints filed in autumn by the French Ministry of Economy, but also by NGOs such as Sherpa who relied on testimonies from former employees of the factory.
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Image Credit – Lafarge logo on cement train (not in Syria) – Wikipedia.
