Lafarge Syria Pays $5.6 Million to Local Armed Groups

   The French weekly Le Canard encha? Ne recently released a report on the Lafarge Syria incident by McKinsey, an American consulting firm, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which showed that Lafarge Syria had been sent to some armed factions in Syria, including the "Islamic State", from July 2012 to September 2014. In total, $5.6 million in costs were paid.

   According to the Le Canard encha? Ne, most of these payments were used to ensure the safety of Lafarge's local Syrian staff and the free movement of Lafarge's transport trucks, which were often stopped by militants at checkpoints. The report also said that these costs were paid through suppliers, because these armed factions control some important fuel bases and raw materials in the region. The Le Canard encha? Ne also reported that the Islamic State had received at least $500,000 in payments. In 2016, the French Ministry of Economy launched a judicial investigation into Lafarge's activities in operating cement plants in Syria despite the EU ban.

   LafargeHolcim said the company would stand firm, deeply regret and condemn the unacceptable mistakes made in Syria, and pointed out that LafargeHolcim had launched an internal investigation at the first time. On November 14, 2017, French police raided LafargeHolcim's offices in Paris, and more investigations are continuing.