The top executive of the world’s largest cement company announced Monday he’s resigning amid accusations the firm made deals with terrorist groups in Syria, allegedly including the Islamic State.
Eric Olsen, CEO of the Swiss-French giant LafargeHolcim, departs after the company admitted last month that it funneled money to armed groups in 2013 and 2014. LafargeHolcim allegedly made payments to U.N.-designated terror groups in order to guarantee safe passage for employees and supplies to its multimillion-dollar plant in Syria.
An internal probe launched by the company last month cleared Olsen of any knowledge of the scheme, but mandated that the CEO and his staff “implement remedial measures” before his departure on June 15, Yahoo News reported.
“My decision is driven by my conviction that it will contribute to addressing strong tensions that have recently arisen around the Syria case,” Olsen said in a statement. “While I was absolutely not involved in, nor even aware of, any wrongdoing I believe my departure will contribute to bringing back serenity to a company that has been exposed for months on this case.”
LafargeHolcim acknowledged in March that it had paid “local armed groups” to provide security in Syria, where it was trying to maintain operations at a $680 million plant. The company has refused to specify which organizations it funded other than to admit the agreements involved “sanctioned” groups. French NGO Sherpa accused the company of doing business with ISIS.
Paris prosecutors have opened an inquiry into alleged dealings between LafargeHolcim and designated terror groups, following a complaint by the French ministry of finance, the Financial Times reported.
LafargeHolcim pulled all of its international staff from the Syria plant in 2012 and completely shuttered operations in 2014. The illicit deals alegedly happened under France’s Lafarge before it merged with Swiss company Holcim in 2015 to create LafargeHolcim,
The combined firm has about 90,000 employees in over 80 countries worldwide.
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