Paris, Oct 13 (AFP) The anti-corruption associationSherpa today called for former French foreign minister LaurentFabius to be questioned over payments made by cement makerLafarge to the Islamic State group through a Syrian middleman.
Sherpa is one of 12 civil plaintiffs in a case againstLafarge over payments it made to IS and other armed groups tokeep its Syrian operations running during the country's civilwar.
Lafarge clung on in Syria for two years after most Frenchcompanies had left. IS eventually took over its northernJalabiya plant in September 2014.
To ensure protection of its staff between 2013 and 2014,Lafarge Cement Syria paid between $80,000 and $100,000 a monthto various armed groups, including $20,000 to IS, according toa source close to the year-old investigation.
Lafarge has admitted to "unacceptable mistakes committedin Syria".
A senior Lafarge official told investigators the companyhad the blessing of the government of Socialist then-presidentFrancois Hollande to stay on during the fighting.
Today, Sherpa confirmed that it had asked investigatingmagistrates to question Fabius and two former ambassadors toSyria, Eric Chevallier and Franck Gellet, over the affair.
"It is imperative to look at all those who might beresponsible if the state was indeed implicated in thisaffair," said Marie-Laure Guislain of Sherpa.
Lafarge's bosses in Paris are suspected of havingapproved payments to jihadist groups through the use of falseaccounting documents.
The investigators have heard from four former Syrianemployees, one of whom described the pressure local staff cameunder to remain on the job long after expatriate staff hadfled.
Former officials told investigators that the company waskeen to stay on to be in pole position for reconstructioncontracts when the war ended. (AFP)RB.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.