Plant in terror finance probe ‘was used by western spies’

Acement plant in Syria at the centre of a terror financing investigation in France was used by western intelligence agencies to gather information on hostages held by Islamic State, sources connected to the operation have said.

A Jordanian intelligence officer who was central to the spying effort has confirmed that the Lafarge factory, which continued operating after the terrorist group overran eastern Syria, was the regional hub of a failed effort to rescue up to 30 hostages. Those IS held included the US journalist James Foley, the British photographer John Cantlie and a Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, two of whom were later confirmed to have been killed.

France’s highest court ruled last week that Lafarge could yet be investigated over allegations of complicity in crimes against humanity over its dealings in Syria, saying that a previous decision to strike out the charge was flawed.

The company is under formal investigation in France over efforts to keep operations going through the peak of the terror group’s rampage in 2013-14. Lafarge has been accused of paying up to €13m ($15.3m) in taxes and fees to IS to keep the factory, located in the heart of then IS territory, functioning. The company has not disputed the figure and acknowledged paying fees to intermediaries but said it does not know the money’s ultimate destination.

The long-awaited ruling is considered a judicial precedent and has broad implications for companies that operate in war zones, but the role of the Jordanian intelligence officer could also raise questions about the influence of intelligence services over sensitive commercial decisions, ostensibly made by large firms, and in any undeclared French government role in keeping the plant running.

The former chief executive Bruno Lafont, as well as the former security director Jean-Claude Veillard, and an ex-director of the company’s Syrian subsidiary, Frédéric Jolibois, have denied charges of financing a terrorist organisation and endangering the lives of others. They could face up to 10 years in jail and fines if convicted.

Senior French officials, however, have not faced public scrutiny and were not identified in a report ordered later by a merged entity, LafargeHolcim, and prepared by the law firm Baker McKenzie.

Throughout the peak of IS’s grip on the region, the Jordanian spy Ahmad al-Jaloudi travelled regularly between the plant and Amman to brief regional and global intelligence chiefs on the purported whereabouts of the hostages, at one point tracking them to an oil plant near the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa.

Jaloudi, a veteran of the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate (GID), confirmed his role: “I was very proud of the work I did to try to secure the release of the hostages, the Jordanian pilot, and to protect the workers at the plant. I gave real-time, accurate actionable intelligence that could have led to those held being rescued.”

Lafarge has rejected several charges against it as part of the French legal inquiry, including that it was complicit in crimes against humanity because of its dealings with militant groups in the area, which included IS.

‘I was very proud of the work I did to try to secure the release of the hostages’

Ahmad al-Jaloudi Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate