French cement company Lafarge - ‘crimes against humanity'

[FourWheelDrift]

"On Tuesday, a top French court overturned a decision by a lower court to dismiss charges of complicity against the cement company for crimes against humanity. Lafarge has been accused of paying millions of euros through a Syrian subsidiary and a middleman to militants, including the Islamic State group, to keep its northern Syrian cement factory in Jalabiya during the Syrian civil war. The company remains under formal investigation in France for charges of crimes against humanity, violating an EU embargo and financing terrorism due to payments made to Lafarge Cement Syria, its Syrian subsidiary, in 2013 and 2014."

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/court-bl...

The company admitted that it paid middlemen to negotiate with armed groups during the Syrian civil war so as to facilitate its operations.

"According to the indictments, Lafarge made multimillion-dollar payments to ISIS and other armed groups and traded raw materials with them while it operated a cement plant on Syria’s northern border with Turkey during the Syrian civil war. These acts took place, at least until the summer of 2014, with Lafarge being fully aware of ISIS and other armed groups' on-going crimes in Syria and Iraq." — Doughty Street Chambers

[mmm-five]

But those 'armed militants' might just be the next government, so it probably pays to play nice with them.

The only difference between some countries is whether the 'bribe' is transparent and government-mandated or not.