France Investigates Lafarge Executives for Terrorist Financing<br />8, 2017<br />PARIS — The former chief executive of LafargeHolcim, the world’s largest cement maker,<br />and five other top officials are being formally investigated as part of a government inquiry into whether the company helped finance the Islamic State militant group and other armed factions while operating a factory in Syria.<br />Two other former executives from Lafarge’s Paris headquarters were placed under investigation this week: Bruno Lafont, the company’s chief executive from 2007 to 2015,<br />and Christian Herrault, the former director general, who was responsible for Lafarge’s operations in Syria and other countries.<br />Mr. Olsen resigned as chief executive in April after an internal inquiry found<br />that managers of Lafarge’s Syrian plant had paid armed groups to allow employees to move to and from the factory so that it could continue operating.<br />Last week, three former managers of Lafarge’s Syrian operations were placed under formal investigation over questions about funds paid to factions<br />that controlled the area where the cement plant was located.<br />Those being investigated include Frédéric Jolibois, the plant’s director from 2014 to 2016; Bruno Pescheux, who oversaw the plant from 2009 to 2014;<br />and Jean-Claude Veillard, Lafarge’s former security director based in Paris.<br />Since then, French judges have been examining the extent to which top Lafarge executives knew about the payments,<br />and whether the company may have bought oil linked to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, in violation of United Nation sanctions and a 2011 European Union embargo.
