Holcim’s Lafarge Risks €36 Million Penalty for Cash to Jihadists

French prosecutors said Holcim Ltd.’s Lafarge should be hit with financial penalties totaling about €36 million ($42.4 million) for illegally making payments to terrorist organizations to keep open a cement plant in war-torn Syria.

In their closing arguments at a Paris trial, prosecutors also called for several former top Lafarge managers to jailed for their roles in the scandal, including the company’s former chief executive officer Bruno Lafont.

“This is the story of a misstep, a moral lapse that led Lafarge, a well-known French flagship company, to finance terrorist organizations for a sole purpose — profit,” said an official ...