Displaying items by tag: Court

Nigeria: A court in Lagos has found that it has jurisdiction to hear a suit filed by Strategic Consultancy against the sale of an 84% stake in Lafarge Africa by Holcim to Huaxin Cement. Lafarge Africa submitted the unsuccessful challenge to the court’s jurisdiction. This Day News has reported that the court also ordered the joinder of Netherlands-based Caricement and UK-based Associated International Cements as defendants.

Strategic Consultancy alleges that the sale bypassed minority shareholders, in violation of Nigerian law. Proceedings will continue on 11 June 2025.

Ukraine: A court has reportedly invalidated the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU)’s competition clearance for CRH Ukraine's acquisition of Buzzi subsidiary Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, completed in October 2024. Interfax-Ukraine News has reported that the court found that the clearance, granted in September 2024, was based on insufficient ‘clarification and evidence’ of details on the Ukrainian ready-to-use mortar mixes market situation.

The court allegedly also ruled that the Netherlands-based subsidiary of Ireland-based CRH had yet to meet certain commitments upon which the AMCU’s approval was conditional. Following the acquisition of Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, it was required to appoint executive, directorial or supervisory personnel to the company who did not already hold positions in CRH Ukraine-controlled entities. CRH clarified that it in fact appointed Mariusz Tomasz Bogacz on 11 October 2024, after his powers as a member of the supervisory board of Podilsky Cement had already been terminated, on 8 October 2024.

Building materials and property development company Kovalska Group mounted the successful legal challenge. The Kyiv Post newspaper has reported that the Kyiv-based company controls over 50% of the concrete market in Kyiv Oblast.

Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine’s assets comprise two integrated cement plants, cement terminals and ready-mix concrete plants in Kyiv, Odessa and Mykolaiv. They entered Italy-based Buzzi’s control following the group’s progressive acquisition of Germany-based Dyckerhoff in 2001 – 2013. CRH and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed a mandate letter for the launch of a joint acquisition of the business in December 2023. The value of the deal was reportedly €100m.

The latest decision is currently under appeal by CRH.

This story was modified on 22 April 2025 to correct the inaccurate claim that the latest court ruling 'blocked' or ‘overturned' the completed acquisition and to add CRH's clarification regarding the effective appointment of Mariusz Tomasz Bogacz.

Türkiye: The Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change has initiated a new process for the ‘Integrated Cement Factory and Raw Material Quarries Project’ in Muğla, which had previously been halted due to local opposition and judicial rulings. A meeting of the Investigation and Evaluation Commission (IAC) is scheduled for 28 November 2024, according to the Ministry's announcement on 6 November 2024.

According to Railly News, the project ran into difficulties when construction by local company Muğla Cement Industry and Trade began in 2021. Following environmental concerns, the Muğla 2nd Administrative Court cancelled the construction permit and the environmental impact assessment (EIA) 'positive' decision, citing non-compliance with the law. A request to appeal was denied.

In response to these developments, local environmental groups and residents have continued their legal efforts, most recently challenging the designation of the plant area as an 'Industrial Area' in the regional development plan. The case remains pending.

Pakistan: The Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology heard on 10 October 2024 that some cement producers have obtained stay orders from courts against the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority over unpaid marking fees. The marking fees equate to 0.1% of cement’s ex-factory price, and go towards ensuring that cement conforms to standards. Pakistan Today News has reported that only two producers have regularly paid the fee, with combined defaults valued at US$18m across the entire industry. A delegation from Saudi Arabia reportedly queried authorities about the lack of clear labelling.

Science and Technology Committee chair Kamil Ali Agha reportedly said "No one knows what quality of cement is being produced by local manufacturers.”

This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide in Sinjar, Iraq. Beginning on the night of 2 - 3 August 2014, ISIS displaced the entire Yazidi population from its homeland, amid a campaign of abductions and killings that claimed 12,000 victims.¹ A striking detail of this and other crimes of the self-proclaimed caliphate is the proximity of a Western corporate actor: cement producer Lafarge, whose subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria operated the Jalabiyeh cement plant in neighbouring northern Syria. On-going investigations have since helped uncover what may amount to complicity on the part of Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria in the form of payments dating back to August 2013.²

In a week that began with the abandoned Jalabiyeh cement plant ablaze following a drone strike,³ Lafarge learned that it will face trial in France over its alleged complicity in crimes against humanity committed by ISIS.⁴ On 16 January 2024, the French Court of Cassation upheld Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syrias' indictments on the charge. Also reportedly indicted are (all former) Lafarge CEOs Bruno Lafont and Eric Olsen, vice president Christian Herrault and security director Jean-Claude Veillard and Lafarge Cement Syria CEOs Bruno Pescheux and Frédéric Jolibois, along with an intermediary and a Jordan-based risk management consultant.^{5, 6} The collaboration in question includes monthly payments to ISIS and other armed groups worth US$15.5m, a lower French court found in May 2022. It may be more than another 20 months before the thorny mass of issues to be considered by the court resolves itself in convictions, or cleared names.

Another front in Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria's legal battle over what happened in Syria is the US civil court system. Activist and survivor Nadia Murad and 426 other Yazidis have filed an Anti-Terrorism Act claim for damages, based on the companies' previous guilty plea to the US Department of Justice to conspiracy to the tune of US$5.92m in October 2022. Murad and fellow claimants allege ‘far higher’ total payments, pointing to correspondence between Lafarge Cement Syria and its intermediary that references ‘[sic] ten millions that we pay directly to them, i.e. to ISIS.’ The DoJ estimates the total value of the conspiracy for all parties at US$80.5m.

On 6 August 2014 (the fourth day of the Yazidi genocide), Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria signalled their agreement to enter into a new long-term agreement to share their revenues with ISIS. On 15 August 2014, the UN Security Council issued Resolution 2170 condemning 'any engagement in direct or indirect trade' with the organisation.⁷ Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria allegedly concluded the revenue-sharing agreement, under new terms more beneficial to ISIS, on that same day.

Lafarge Cement Syria finally evacuated the Jalabiyeh cement plant in September 2014, whereupon ISIS added it to its own five-plant international cement network, with sales worth US$583m/yr. The US-led Coalition bombed the site in October 2019 and it was subsequently occupied by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) forces. The strike on 14 January 2024 was part of a drone campaign by Turkish forces against Kurdish positions that the invaders say destroyed 23 targets.

It is conceivable that Turkish armed forces also had personal reasons for destroying this monument to Lafarge’s former presence in the region: on Lafarge’s stipulation, ISIS implemented a duty on Turkish cement entering its area of control, ostensibly charged at US$150/truck. As anyone familiar with the Turkish cement sector knows, one of the major investors in the industry happens to be the country’s military pension fund.

For the 400,000 Yazidis who have survived, the tragedy that began in August 2014 will not end soon. More than half remain in refugee camps. Among the missing are 2000 girls and women who the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism suspect ISIS may have 'further entrenched in human trafficking,' constituing a continuation of the genocide that has outlasted both the self-proclaimed caliphate and the French multinational that may have helped to bankroll it.⁸ Courts in different countries are helping bring to light a reign of terror that spanned international borders. In the US, some of its victims may find redress, while in France, justice may be closing in on anyone who might prove to have made common cause with the perpetrators.

References

1. RASHID, 'DESTROYING THE SOUL OF THE YAZIDIS,' Augut 2019, https://www.rashid-international.org/downloads/RASHID_Yazidi_Heritage_Destruction_Report_2019.pdf

2. Jenner & Block, 'IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK,' 14 December 2013, www.jenner.com/a/web/fy85Wd97fANx7fwBecn31r/23-9186-as-filed-complaint2.pdf

3. ANHA, 'Turkish occupation army targets former Lafarge site,' 14 January 2024, https://hawarnews.com/en/turkish-occupation-army-targets-former-lafarge-site?__cf_chl_tk=mSB3Ph6iU.3FEJ.Z3ywRvcu2n.tOahhpLnd.Fmqk0SU-1705415232-0-gaNycGzNDHs

4. Reuters, 'Lafarge can be charged with 'complicity in crimes against humanity' over Syria plant, French court says,' 16 January 2024, https://ca.news.yahoo.com/lafarge-charged-complicity-crimes-against-132904436.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANqF5SKpSZ7KB5rT5rjo_vFZ5LGdZ9bVkC5SeNw3iZGneLy5Tir2dsb1O3GQjITBRSF_xEs2GDBcSU94nKOocm-npnTznmbfhKB_FgOsBCg-9lO7ilPP2phHAcGahghG9yjmFoWVd24uU7xEwZ2RZqmmMaE2bSIIcTGRuh4LAlXD

5. Madeline Young, Lafarge's Case Cemented, 2021, https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=eilr-recent-developments

6. Le Télégramme, 'Complicité de crimes contre l’humanité : les poursuites contre Lafarge validées par la Cour de cassation?' 16 January 2023, www.letelegramme.fr/france/complicite-de-crimes-contre-lhumanite-les-poursuites-contre-lafarge-validees-par-la-cour-de-cassation-6505590.php

7. UN Security Council, 'Security Council Adopts Resolution 2170 (2014) Condemning Gross, Widespread Abuse of Human Rights by Extremist Groups in Iraq, Syria,' 15 August 2014, https://press.un.org/en/2014/sc11520.doc.htm#:~:text=Through%20the%20unanimous%20adoption%20of,as%20ISIS)%20and%20Al%2DNusra

8. Al-Dayel et al, ‘ISIS and Their Use of Slavery,’ 27 January 2020, https://www.icct.nl/publication/isis-and-their-use-slavery

France/Middle East: The Court of Cassation, France’s highest court, has upheld Lafarge’s indictment on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity, Reuters has reported. A lower court previously concluded that the company had paid US$15.5m to armed groups in the Middle East, including ISIS, via its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria. In its latest ruling, the Court of Cassation quashed another charge of endangering the lives of employees, on grounds that Lafarge’s foreign labour relations are not subject to French law. The group had reportedly not appealed a further charge of financing a terrorist enterprise.

Read the latest on Lafarge’s on-going trials in this week’s Global Cement analysis.

US/Iraq: Victims of ISIS brought a new claim for compensation against Lafarge on 14 December 2023 for its alleged complicity in crimes committed by the terrorist group in Iraq. A group of US citizens who belong to the Yazidi minority has sued the company, now part of Switzerland-based Holcim, in a US court. ISIS conducted a genocide against the Yazidi people in Sinjar, Iraq, beginning on 3 August 2014. The genocide involved 2100 – 4400 killings and 4200 – 10,800 abductions of girls and women, and displaced 500,000 people.

On 18 October 2023, Lafarge and Lafarge Syria pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and its ally al-Nusra Front by paying them approximately US$5.92m to continue operating during the Syrian Civil War.

Barrister Amal Clooney, representing the claimants in the latest case, said “It is shocking that a leading global corporation worked hand in hand with ISIS while ISIS was executing American civilians and committing genocide against Yazidis. We hope that this case will send a clear message that supporting terrorists cannot be ‘business as usual’ and that there will be justice for the victims.”

India: ABG Shipyard plans to sell Vadraj Cement, which owns a decommissioned clinker unit and grinding unit, as well as quarries and a jetty, in Kutch, Gujarat. The National Company Law Tribunal took over winding up proceedings for the former cement producer in September 2023. The Economic Times newspaper has reported JSW Cement, Adani Group and steel producer ArcelorMittal Group as potential buyers for the business. It expects Vadraj Cement to attract a price of US$240 – 300m, against debts of US$841m.

India: The Supreme Court will hear the case against Adani Group over its alleged financial misrepresentation and stock manipulation on 24 November 2023, 24 days after the previous deferred date of 30 October 2023. BusinessWorld News has reported that the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) is currently ‘scrutinising’ the group's auditors, S.R. Batliboi, while the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is investigating British Virgin Islands-based investment fund Gulf Asia Trade & Investment for possible violations of share ownership regulations in connection with the Adani Group.

Adani Group says that it has committed no wrongdoing.

Mexico: The government says that if US-based Vulcan Materials continues to reject offers for land in Quintana Roo on which its Calica-Sac-Tun quarry is situated, then it will designate the land Protected Natural Area status. Reuters has reported that the government has previously offered US$328 – 383m for the property. Vulcan Materials has mounted on-going legal challenges worth US$1.9bn against the Mexican government over the previous closure of its operations.