Ahmad Jaludi is a military man, prone to discipline and order. Muscular, short and stocky. He is accustomed to giving orders and receiving them, carrying them out promptly. When the situation demands it, the 54-year-old retired Jordanian air force colonel also knows how to take initiative. But accountability for his actions and having to explain them to a judge is too much for him.
Jaludi, 54, also worked for his country's intelligence services and participated in UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan and Somalia. Above all, he worked from 2013 to 2019 for the French cement company Lafarge. In particular, he served as "risk manager" of the Jalabiya plant in northeastern Syria, which continued to operate until September 2014, despite the ongoing civil war in that country. That role has now cost the Jordanian an indictment for "financing terrorism," alongside six leaders of the company. After a preliminary hearing before the investigating judge held in 2021, he is expected to appear for a new summons on March 28 in Paris, before the special judicial unit that tracks crimes against humanity.
Until now, the French cement company was being prosecuted on suspicion of having financed jihadist groups, including the Islamic State organization (IS), in exchange for being allowed to continue its operations in Syria. Jaludi's exclusive account, corroborated by details to which Le Monde obtained access, indicates that there are other players who benefited from Lafarge's presence and operations in Syria: specifically, Western intelligence services, including France's.
Rights of passage and ransoms
As revealed by a Le Monde investigation in June 2016 (in French), which confirmed reports first published by the Syrian opposition newspaper Zaman Al-Wasl, the French firm paid passage fees and ransoms and purchased raw materials taxed by various Syrian armed rebel groups, including IS.
The findings of an audit conducted in 2017 by international law firm Baker McKenzie, at the request of the cement company's new management, concluded that a total sum of $15.34 million (€14.5 million) may have been spent by Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), Lafarge's Syrian subsidiary, from 2011 to 2015, both for the improper acquisition of raw materials and as compensation to various armed groups, including terrorist organizations. Through its intermediaries, IS is thought to have netted between $4.8 million and $10 million, according to estimates from the French judiciary.
Jaludi, who was one of the factory's last on-site managers, says he has no memory of this infamous part of his former job. "When I was recruited, I'd been working for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a large NGO. I was offered an interesting and challenging job: to protect the Lafarge plant and ensure its proper functioning and equipment. As a security professional, I was intrigued. In fact, I immediately notified the Jordanian authorities and asked if I could take the job."
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