The French secret services may have supported ISIS terrorists in Syria via Lafarge
Are the French secret services co-responsible for maintaining Lafarge in Syria at the cost of financing jihadist groups until 2014? In the face of justice, an intelligence officer confessed to “opportunistic” and “cynical” information gathering, but assured that he had not given “any instructions”.
“We operated in a totally opportunistic manner, taking advantage of their continued presence, but no one asked them to stay,” said a police officer from the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI), interviewed on October 4 by investigating judge Charlotte Bilger, according to a hearing of which the AFP was informed.
“My job was only to collect information to detect individuals,” particularly the French who left for jihad in Syria, “we gave no instructions,” explained the former contact officer of the cement manufacturer, who was initially responsible for advising companies on protecting their assets, a common practice.
“We operated in a totally cynical way, that’s true. We must realize that this is a huge job, an ant’s job, but it is essential,” justified the officer, who already organized a conference of his services in April 2012 before Lafarge’s Executive Committee.
At the time, he was the contact person for Jean-Claude Veillard, then Lafarge’s Safety Director. The latter, a former soldier, told the judges that he had regularly transmitted information on the situation in the region to the various French intelligence services without “any sorting”.
Close contacts, particularly through e-mails on file, which continued throughout the war in Syria. In May 2016, Mr. Veillard had lunch with his contact’s successors at DGSI, according to a source close to the file.
But for the judge in charge of the investigation, “the demonstration that the intelligence services had detailed knowledge of the actions” of Lafarge and its managers, “has no bearing” on the possible criminal liability of the cement manufacturer, she wrote to justify her recent refusal to conduct additional hearings of agents.
All these hearings were requested by defence lawyers, in particular because they cast doubt on the impartiality of DGSI, one of the three investigating services in the case.
The agent interviewed on 4 October assured that there was a “compartmentalization” between the judicial sphere of DGSI and the intelligence part, while admitting that his information can go back “to the highest level”, to his director, “and even beyond”.
– Fabius “never seized” –
“It does not change the fact that Lafarge has chosen to stay and make a deal with terrorist organizations,” reacted to AFP Me Marie Dosé, lawyer for the NGO Sherpa, a civil party in this case. “It is not by multiplying the number of trials of intent that[Lafarge] will escape its trial”.
“The sole objective of Lafarge’s requests is to get to the truth by having a complete picture of the situation in Syria at the time of the events,” said AFP Group lawyer Christophe Ingrain, who announced that he had appealed the judge’s refusal.
Lafarge SA was indicted in June for “financing a terrorist enterprise” and “complicity in crimes against humanity”. The group is suspected of having spent nearly €13 million through its subsidiary LCS between 2011 and 2015 with intermediaries and armed groups, including the Islamic State Organization, to maintain production in its Jalabiya plant as the country was sinking into war.
Eight former executives or managers, including former CEO Bruno Lafont, have been charged with “financing a terrorist enterprise” and/or “endangering the lives” of employees. Two local intermediaries at the heart of the investigation, Amro Taleb and Firas Tlass, are also targeted by an arrest warrant.
The investigation raises questions about what the French authorities knew or did not know about Lafarge’s actions and whether or not diplomacy allowed or even encouraged the cement company. Hearing this summer, former Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius assured that he had “never been seized” of this issue.
Lafarge, which merged with Switzerland’s Holcim in 2015, eventually abandoned its cement plant in September 2014 when it was taken over by the jihadist organization ISIS.
