France/Belgium: French police have searched the Paris offices of LafargeHolcim as part of an on-going investigation into the company’s conduct in Syria. At the same time the offices of Belgium’s Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) were also searched, according to the Agence France Presse (AFP). Both companies said they were cooperating with the investigations.
A source quoted by AFP said that the investigators are trying to find out if GBL had been aware of Lafarge Syria’s activities in Syria. GBL is a shareholder of LafargeHolcim that held a 9.4% stake at the end of 2016. The investigation as a whole is attempting to determine whether LafargeHolcim’s predecessor company Lafarge Syria paid terrorist groups in Syria and how much managers knew about the situation.