French cement giant Lafarge SA will pay a 790-million-euro fine to the US Justice Department for supporting terror groups including the Islamic State armed group during the Syrian civil war, reports Radio France Internationale.
On Tuesday, Lafarge acknowledged that it paid nearly 13 million euros to middlemen to keep its Syrian cement factory running in 2013 and 2014, long after other firms had pulled out of the country.
Lafarge SA – and its defunct subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria – "have agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organisations in Syria," it said.
"Lafarge SA and LCS have accepted responsibility for the actions of the individual executives involved, whose behavior was in flagrant violation of Lafarge's Code of Conduct.
"We deeply regret that this conduct occurred and have worked with the US Department of Justice to resolve this matter."
Earlier this year a French court ruled that the company was aware that much of the money had gone to finance Islamic State operations.
Holcim Group, the Swiss conglomerate which took over Lafarge in 2015, said the US Justice Department had cleared it of any wrongdoing.