The statement, submitted minutes before midnight, has not yet been accepted. Relatives of the 346 people who died in crashes off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia want Boeing executives to face charges.
The aerospace giant Boeing has accepted plead guilty to a crime of fraud in relation to two of its 737 Max aircraft that crashed off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia. The accidents caused the death of 346 people.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the aerospace giant offers to pay a fine of 243.6 million dollars (225.11 million euros), which equals the fine paid in 2021.
The company’s decision, if an agreement is reached, would allow you to avoid a criminal trial, a point that many of the victims’ families consider imperative. They argue that the agreement does not make Boeing held accountable because the company can avoid legal admission that their engineering errors They were responsible for the deaths of their crew and passengers.
Relatives of some of the deceased passengers have indicated that They will ask a federal judge in Texas to annul the agreement, which they consider too lenient considering the lives that were lost. They want a trial, a huge fine and for Boeing leaders to face charges.
Justice Department says fraud conviction will ensure accountability for ‘misstatements’ of Boeing in 2017 on the 737 Max. The accidents occurred less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019.
The company continues to face investigations for an incident that occurred in January. In January, Alaska Airlines had a panel burstleading to accusations of poor workmanship from current and former employees.
What is Boeing admitting?
The aerospace company will admit criminal fraud in connection with deception of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The first accusation took place in 2021, but the conditions of the agreement were not to prosecute Boeing if it paid a fine and completed three years of corporate probation, also known as a deferred prosecution agreement.
In May, the Department of Justice determined that the company had breached the conditions of his parolewhich led to Sunday’s agreement.
The new agreement could eliminate the stain on Boeing’s reputation: The felony charge of misleading aviation regulators who approved the plane and flight requirements to ensure safety.
Boeing has agreed to pay a total fine of 487.2 million dollars (450.2 million euros), the legal maximum according to the Department of Justice. The agreement also requires the company to invest a minimum of 455 million dollars (420.5 million euros) to improve security after a three-year corporate trial period.
Boeing’s board of directors also must meet in person with the victims and their families.
Angry response from victims’ families
Zipporah Kuria, a 28-year-old London woman whose father, Joseph, was on the Ethiopian Airlines flight which crashed in March 2019wanted a trial because he thought it would have revealed new details about what led to the accidents.
Now, with the growing possibility that there will be no trial, she says: “The opportunity to continue digging, the opportunity to continue discovering what has gone wrong here and what is wrong, it is as if they took it away from us.”
“So, once again, to them (the victims) their dignity has been stolenand our closure has been stolen from us.”
Javier de Luis, an MIT aeronautics professor whose sister, Graziella, died in the Ethiopian accident, also considers the punishment imposed on Boeing inadequate.
“If you look at the elements in this plea agreement, they are pretty typical of what you would expect in a white-collar fraud investigation, not in the case of a crime that directly caused the death of 346 people“, he claimed.
Meanwhile, in another Boeing scare, a plane lost a wheel on monday during takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport on a flight to Denver. The plane managed to land at its destination and the wheel was later recovered. No injuries were reported.
ADVERTISINGThis is the second time this year that such an incident occurs.
