A court in Paris has convicted Lafarge for paying about $6.5 million to jihadist groups, including the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front.
The ruling marks the first time a company has been tried in France for financing terrorism, following an investigation that began in 2017.
Former CEO Bruno Lafont was sentenced to six years in prison, while former deputy managing director Christian Herrault received a five-year sentence.
Lafarge acknowledged the court’s findings, stating that the actions occurred more than a decade ago and were in “flagrant violation” of its code of conduct.
The case stems from the company’s operations in Syria, where its cement plant opened in 2010 shortly before the outbreak of the civil war. While many multinational firms exited the country in 2012, Lafarge retained its local workforce and continued operations until 2014, when the Islamic State seized the facility.
Prosecutors said the company paid intermediaries to secure safe passage for employees and goods, with workers travelling through the town of Manbij and crossing the Euphrates River to reach the plant.
Presiding judge Isabelle Prévost-Desprez said the payments, though intended to keep the factory running, ultimately strengthened terrorist organisations responsible for attacks within Syria and beyond.
Those payments were “essential in enabling the terrorist organisations to gain control of Syria’s natural resources, allowing it to finance terrorist acts within the region and those planned abroad, particularly in Europe,” she said.
The court also noted that the total amount paid was never disclosed and contributed to the severity of the offence. Lafarge was fined €1.125 million.
Herrault had argued that the decision to maintain operations was driven by concern for the safety and welfare of local staff.
Now owned by Swiss group Holcim, Lafarge remains a major cement producer in Nigeria, with an installed capacity of about 10.5 million metric tonnes annually across multiple plants.
The company recently announced expansion plans for its facilities in Gombe and Ogun states, aiming to boost output at its Ashaka and Sagamu plants.
In August 2025, Holcim sold its 83.81 percent stake in Lafarge Africa Plc to Huaxin Cement in a deal valued at $1 billion.
The ruling comes amid increased global scrutiny of terrorism financing. In Nigeria, authorities recently published a list of individuals and groups allegedly linked to funding extremist activities, including the Islamic State West Africa Province, which operates in the north-east and the Lake Chad region.
President Bola Tinubu has described terrorism in Africa as “an imported evil,” as efforts intensify to disrupt financial networks supporting armed groups.
