Boeing might be held criminally liable for the 737 Max crashes, the U. S. states

The U.S. Justice Department is considering criminally prosecuting Boeing for breaching a $2.5 billion settlement agreement related to the fatal 737 Max crashes, claiming Boeing failed to implement adequate compliance measures.

The U. S. Department of Justice is thinking about whether to criminally prosecute Boeing over the two deadly 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people. The big airline is said to have violated the conditions of a $2. The 5 billion settlement agreement that was reached in 2021 is the resolution of the previous criminal charge that was connected to the crashes. 

In a statement on Thursday, the Justice Department declared that Boeing was not able to fulfill its duties under the 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. To be more specific, it accused Boeing of not having "a system to design, implement and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the US fraud laws throughout its operations.

The 2021 deal facilitated Boeing to escape criminal charges by paying more than $2. 5 billion and the commitment to reform some business practices. The prosecutors, as part of the deal, decided to drop the criminal charge after three years if Boeing would follow the terms of the agreement.

Boeing rejects the claim that it violated the agreement, saying "it thinks that it has kept the terms of that agreement. " The company now has till June 13th to reply to the Justice Department's allegations, which will be the basis for whether the prosecutors will go ahead with the criminal charges.

The allegations are based on two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that resulted in the plane's 20-month-long grounding around the world. The first crash resulted in the death of 189 people in Indonesia, and the second crash killed 157 in Ethiopia. The investigations blamed the bad design and the insufficient supervision at Boeing.

The lawyers for the families of the crash victims were happy about the fact that there is now a possibility of criminal prosecution, but they still said "We need to see more actions from DOJ to hold Boeing accountable. "

Also Read: Whistleblower Alleges that there are Serious Problems with the Boeing Plane Parts

Boeing has not let go of the issue of aircraft safety even after the 737 Max was allowed to fly again. In January, the engine cowling separated from a new 737 Max right after takeoff, leaving a hole in the plane's fuselage.