A Paris court on Monday found cement maker Holcim's Lafarge unit guilty of charges that its Syrian subsidiary financed terrorism and breached European sanctions to keep a plant operating in northern Syria during the country's civil war.
Eight former Lafarge employees, including executives, were also found guilty of financing terrorism.
Judges determined that Lafarge in total paid 5.59 million euros ($6.53 million) to terror groups, including Daesh and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, both designated as terrorist entities by the EU, between 2013 and September 2014.
The presiding judge, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, said the payments made by Lafarge helped strengthen the groups that carried out deadly attacks in Syria and beyond.
"It is clear to the court that the sole purpose of the funding of a terrorist organisation was to keep the Syrian plant running for economic reasons. Payments to terrorist entities enabled Lafarge to continue its operations," Prevost-Desprez said.
"These payments took the form of a genuine commercial partnership with Daesh," she added.
There was no immediate reaction from Lafarge or Holcim.
TRT World's documentary
In 2021, an investigation by TRT World exposed Lafarge's illegal activities in Syria and how the factory was a cover for the French secret services.
The documentary, titled The Factory: A Covert French Operation, exposed France's operation to support the Daesh terror organisation via French cement giant Lafarge.
It resulted from a two-year investigation and analysis of more than half a million documents, revealing one of the darkest episodes of the Syrian civil war.
It detailed why Lafarge decided to stay in Syria and keep its factory operative throughout the war, how EU funds were diverted to Daesh and the PKK terror groups, with the knowledge and cover-up of the French intelligence agencies.
The investigation also focuses on the steps French politicians and intelligence agencies took to save Lafarge from legal proceedings and how the process of funding Daesh in Syria ended up financing the 2015 Paris attacks.
