American plane maker Boeing has violated a settlement that allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution after two deadly crashes involving its 737 MAX, the US Justice Department said. US officials will now be tasked with deciding whether to file charges against Boeing with prosecutors saying they will tell the court no later than 7 July how they plan to proceed.
The new twist in Boeing’s long-running safety saga relate to the 737 MAX jets that crashed in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia, killing 346 people. Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department in January 2021 to avoid prosecution on a single charge of fraud for misleading federal regulators who approved the plane.
Justice department officials said Boeing violated terms of the settlement by failing to make promised changes to detect and prevent violations of federal anti-fraud laws. The determination means that Boeing could be prosecuted “for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge,” including the charge of fraud that the company hoped to avoid with the settlement, the Justice Department said.
“The government is determining how it will proceed in this matter,” the Justice Department said in the court filing, according to reports. Boeing will have until 13 June to respond the government’s allegation, and department said it will consider the company’s explanation “in determining whether to pursue prosecution.”
Boeing said in a statement that “We believe that we have honoured the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue. As we do so, we will engage with the department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”
Boeing has come under renewed scrutiny since that Alaska Airlines flight in January, when a door plug blew out of a 737 Max, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the jetliner. The company is under multiple investigations into the blowout and its manufacturing quality.
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