Claimants still want civil cases brought against Lafarge Syria

A report in The Guardian newspaper suggests that the US$778m fine imposed on Lafarge by the Justice Department over the payments the cement producer made to IS in Syria, so that it could keep trading, is likely to “throw open the doors to still more legal trouble”.

Amal Clooney and other lawyers in the US are suing Lafarge for its aid to IS. However, prosecuting multinational corporations for war crimes is extremely difficult as to the extent of what they knew and their collaboration, while Lafarge has already evaded many appeals and counter-appeals since 2016 on its Syrian involvement with IS at its Jalabiya cement factory in 2013-14. “None of the US$778m fine imposed on Lafarge by the Justice Department went to any of the victims,” said a lawyer in one of the suits.

In addition, Lafarge still faces a criminal case from dozens of former employees in Syria. Two non-profit organisations, Sherpa and European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, have accused Lafarge of complicity in crimes against humanity, reports The Guardian.