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Families of the victims of two 737 MAX 8 crashes have slammed a deal for Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution over the disasters.
In an agreement reached with the US Department of Justice, Boeing – a major defence contractor – will not face a felony fraud trial over the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 on 29 October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on 10 March 2019, despite last year announcing it would plead guilty.
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Under the new non-prosecution agreement (NPA) put forward this month, the planemaker will be required to “pay or invest” more than US$1.1 billion, including a $444.5 million fund for victims’ families, $445 million on safety and compliance programs, and a criminal fine.
Victims’ families have reacted in anger to the announcement, calling it a “sweetheart deal” and saying it is “coddling corporate criminals”.
“This kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history. My families will object and hope to convince the court to reject it,” said Paul Cassell, a pro bono lawyer representing some families of crash victims.
In a statement, Javier de Luis, whose sister died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, said the Department of Justice is “walk[ing] away from any pretence to seek justice for the victims of the 737 MAX crashes”.
“In spite of the mountains of reports and investigations over the last six years documenting wrongdoing by Boeing, DOJ is claiming that they cannot prove that anybody did anything wrong,” he said.
“The message sent by this action to companies around the country is, don’t worry about making your products safe for your customers. Even if you kill them, just pay a small fine and move on. Boeing has repeatedly shown itself incapable of changing their ways on their own.
“The Alaska Air door blowout five years after the fatal MAX crashes proves this. This agreement does not provide for a robust, externally supervised safety monitoring program.
“Why does the DoJ think that the results from this deal will be any different than the results from the earlier Deferred Prosecution Agreement? They won’t, and I fear the flying public will again pay the price.”
Catherine Berthet of France, whose 28-year-old daughter died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, said the US government has “blind faith in Boeing, to the point of letting it get away with the murder of 346 people”.
“By deciding not to prosecute Boeing and not to take it to court, the government is sending a message to the public that big companies are above the law and justice, even when they kill,” she said.
“Moreover, this NPA can be seen as a message that the families and the Government can be bribed to forget about crime.
“However, I have total confidence in the wisdom and sagacity of Judge O’Connor, who has always shown intelligence, and who called these crashes ‘the biggest corporate crime in the United States history,’ to act in the public interest and in the interest of safety, as he has always done.”
Virgin Australia is currently the only Australian airline to fly the 737 MAX 8, with eight aircraft in its fleet and more expected.
