00:021.3 million dollars. That's the amount of money that a French court has fined cement
00:07group Lafarge for paying the Islamic State group and other jihadists to keep its factory
00:12running in Syria during the civil war. The court has also sentenced the company's former
00:17CEO, Bruno Lafonte, to six years in jail. Lafonte's lawyer has confirmed he will appeal
00:23the decision. The Paris court found that Lafarge, now part of the Swiss conglomerate Holcim,
00:30paid almost 5.6 million euros in 2013 and 2014 via its subsidiary to jihadist groups in order
00:37to keep its plant running in northern Syria at the height of the civil war. It comes after
00:42a case in the US back in 2022 in which the firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to fund US-designated
00:48terrorist organizations. Lafarge then agreed to pay a $778 million fine.
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