The French government has filed a legal complaint against cement maker Lafarge for buying oil in Syria to power a factory there in violation of sanctions, sources close to the case told AFP Thursday.
Lafarge is suspected of sourcing oil locally to operate the Jalabiya cement factory in northern Syria, defying a 2012 EU ban on purchases of Syrian oil which is part of a sanctions package against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, they said.
The complaint, which was filed in late September 2016, follows a report in daily Le Monde saying Lafarge entered into deals with armed groups in Syria, including ISIS, to protect its business interests in the country.
At the heart of the "worrying deals" alleged by Le Monde in June of last year is the Jalabiya cement works that Lafarge bought in 2007 some 150 kilometers (95 miles) northeast of Aleppo. The factory went into operation in 2011.
In order to keep making cement Lafarge bought licences from and paid taxes to Islamic State middle-men and oil traders, the newspaper alleged.
Lafarge – which in 2015 merged with Swiss cement maker Holcim – confirmed to AFP it had owned the Jalabiya cement works "between 2010 and 2014," but did not directly address the allegations.
The French finance ministry confirmed to AFP that it had lodged a legal complaint, but gave no details.
A legal source said that prosecutors had launched an investigation prompted by the government's case.
Sherpa, an NGO, in November brought a separate case against Lafarge for alleged dealings with ISIS, but prosecutors have not started any probe so far.
In July a French parliamentary mission concluded that there was no evidence that Lafarge had contributed in any way to the financing of ISIS.
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