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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and agencies

French cement maker convicted of financing terror groups to keep its Syria plant working

Lafont at the Paris courthouse. Behind him are a police officer and a man in court dress
Bruno Lafont, former chief executive of Lafarge, was sentenced to six years in prison for financing terrorism. Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

A French court has fined the cement group Lafarge more than €1m (£870,000) and sentenced its former boss to six years in prison for paying protection money to Islamic State and other terror groups to maintain its business in war-torn Syria from 2013 to 2014.

The ruling follows a 2022 case in the United States in which the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated “terrorist” organisations and agreed to pay a $778m fine (£580m) – the first time a company had faced the charge.

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