Displaying items by tag: Syria

France: Holcim has issued a statement after another day of the on-going criminal court case against Lafarge Syria on charges of financing a terror organisation, violating an embargo, endangering its employees and being complicit in crimes against humanity. Aljazeera News has reported that the company stands accused of paying US$15.3m to armed groups including ISIS, to which it allegedly also supplied cement. Prior to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, Lafarge Syria had invested US$601m in its cement operations in the country. Holcim called the alleged crimes a ‘legacy issue’ for Lafarge Syria. Following the group’s discovery of the historic conduct in 2016, it engaged third-party investigators and shared their findings with the courts.

Chair Beat Hess said “All the alleged charges against Lafarge SA are in stark contrast with everything that Holcim stands for as a company. The described events concerning Lafarge SA were concealed from the Holcim Board at the time of the merger in 2015 and go completely against the values of our company.” He added “On behalf of the board of directors of Holcim, I would like to reiterate how extremely shocked and appalled we are by the alleged charges against Lafarge SA.”

France: The Court of Cassation has denied Lafarge’s appeals against the charge of complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria. The court of last resort has reversed the decision by the Paris Court of Appeal in 2019, according to the Agence France Presse. The case has now been referred back to investigating magistrates for reconsideration along with another charge of ‘endangering the lives of others.’ In a statement Lafarge said that the decision by the Court of Cassation did not in any way presume any guilt on its part and that it would continue to cooperate fully.

The legal case relates to the conduct of Lafarge in Syria between 2011 and 2014. Lafarge and Holcim later merged in 2015 becoming LafargeHolcim. LafargeHolcim’s shareholders voted to change the company’s name to Holcim in May 2021.

US: Fortera has appointed Eric Olsen to its board of directors. Olsen is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of LafargeHolcim.

He started his career in the field of mergers and acquisitions at Deloitte & Touche, Banque Paribas and was one of the managing partners of Trinity Associates for six years. He studied business at the University of Colorado and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from HEC international business school in Paris. He joined Lafarge Group in 1999 and was a member of its executive committee from 2007 until its merger with Holcim in 2015 to form LafargeHolcim. He then worked as the CEO of LafargeHolcim until April 2017 when he resigned following a review into a conduct of a cement plant in Syria. Legal charges of financing a terrorist organisation were dropped by French authorities in 2019.

Fortera is a materials technology company that has developed a recarbonation process that uses captured CO2 and mineralises it into a secondary cementitious material. In March 2021 it signed a collaboration agreement with Lehigh Hanson to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system at the producer’s 0.8Mt/yr integrated Redding Cement plant in California.

France/Syria: The Court of Cassation, a court of last resort, has delayed its ruling on the conduct of Lafarge in Syria between 2011 and 2014 until September 2021. It was due to make a decision on a number of appeals related to the case including whether charges of charge of crimes against humanity should be upheld, according to the Agence France Presse. Other indictments include those of financing terrorism, endangering life and violating an embargo. Lafarge has been accused of financing terrorism through indirect payments to extremist groups to keep its Jalabiya cement plant operational after the outbreak of war in Syria.

Lafarge Cement Syria was a subsidiary of Lafarge in the early 2010s. Lafarge and Holcim merged in 2015 becoming LafargeHolcim. LafargeHolcim’s shareholders later voted to change the company’s name to Holcim in May 2021.

France/Syria: The Court of Cassation, a court of last resort, is considering whether charges of charge of crimes against humanity should be upheld against Lafarge. However, charges of financing terrorism, endangering life and violating an embargo seem set to stay. The legal case is investigating the company’s conduct in Syria between 2011 and 2014. It has been accused of financing terrorism through indirect payments to extremist groups to keep its Jalabiya cement plant operational after the outbreak of war in Syria. The Court of Cassation is expected to deliver its verdict on 15 July 2021.

Syria: The General Company for Cement and Building Materials in Hama central province (Hama Cement) recorded cement sales in excess of 1Mt in 2020. Clinker sales were 0.7Mt. Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) has reported that the total value of sales was US$96m. The year included the beginning of concrete paving slab production at the company’s plant.

The company said that 2021’s tasks consisted of improving the technical specifications of the product and producing new cement types, modernising equipment, developing workers’ skills and diversifying investments.

Syria: Two Coalition F15s performed a targeted precision airstrike on a Lafarge Syria cement terminal near Kobane on the Turkish-Syrian border. Myles Caggins, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson, told Sputnik that the operation succeeded in its aims of “destroying an ammunition cache and reducing the facility’s future military usefulness.” The facility had been used by Coalition and Kurdish forces, and was destroyed following the removal of all personnel and ‘essential tactical equipment’ as part of the US’s withdrawal from northern Syria.

France/Syria: Four Lafarge Cement Syria executives, including Bruno Lafont, CEO of Lafarge from 2006 until its 2015 merger with Holcim, have appeared in court in France to challenge their June 2017 indictments on charges of funding terrorism. This related alleged payments by Lafarge Cement Syria of Euro13m to IS to ensure the safe activity of its Syrian sites throughout the country’s civil war. A ruling will be handed down on 24 October 2019. Agence France Presse has reported that the Syrian-Canadian Amro Taleb, a former Lafarge Cement Syria intermediary whom executives have described as a ‘crook,’ has been indicted on the same charge.

Syria: Parts of the Arab Cement Company’s integrated plant in Aleppo are being renovated. Ayman Nabhan, the Director General of the General Establishment for Cement and Building Materials, said that the unit had suffered ‘heavy’ damage from terrorists, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency. The government says that industrial plants in the region are being repaired and returned to production. It took back control of the city from opposition forces in late 2016.

France: The Ministry of Culture has refused a sponsorship of Euro0.2m from Lafarge intended for the Musée de Cluny in Paris. The ministry said that the sponsorship was paid in 2015 and then returned in 2018, according to the Agence France Presse. However, the ministry did not say why the money has been rejected. In 2017 the Paris City Council ended a partnership with Lafarge for the supply of sand for an urban beach project due to allegations of the building material manufacturer’s conduct in Syria during the civil war. A legal case examining Lafarge’s conduct in Syria between 2011 and 2014 is on-going.