US govt may prosecute Boeing over 737 Max crashes
Ilaria Grasso MacolaThe US government is weighing up whether to prosecute Boeing over the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flight crashes of 2018 and 2019.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused Boeing of breaching its obligations under a 2021 agreement that forced the manufacturer to “prevent and detect” violations of fraud laws in exchange for being shielded from prosecution over the two accidents, which caused the death of 346 people.
According to multiple media reports, US lawmakers said Boeing failed to “design, implement and enforce a compliance and ethics programme to prevent and detect violations of the US fraud laws throughout its operations”.
The DOJ has given Boeing until 13 June to respond to the allegations, before making its final decision on how to proceed by 7 July.
“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,” Boeing reportedly said in a statement.
“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 faced intense scrutiny over the past few months after a door plug blew out mid-flight on a two-month-old Alaska Airlines jet in early January, leading to a rise in the number of whistleblowers who denounced quality control and safety issues at the company.
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Ilaria Grasso Macola
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