Authorities raid Lafarge offices in Paris and Brussels probing payments to ISIS terrorist group

French authorities have been searching the offices of the French-Swiss cement maker Lafarge in Paris, RFI reported on Wednesday.

The probe relates to the business deal between Lafarge and the Islamic State in Syria between 2013 and 2014. During that period, Le Monde suggests that Lafarge paid $80,000 to $100,000 a month to the Islamic State to retain its Jalabiya plant up and running. According to AFP, French custom authorities have now verified that payments have been made using false accounting documents.

Belgian police sources suggest the investigation is said to have extended to a Lafarge subsidiary in Brussels.

The European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and the French anti-corruption association Sherpa have taken Lafarge to court on counts of complicity in crimes against humanity. Sherpa has called for the former foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, to be questioned of his knowledge of the case.

Source: New Europe