Lawyers representing families of Kenyans killed in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines, Boeing plane crash are pushing for more compensation, disputing a new agreement between the US Department of Justice and Boeing.
On July 24, 2024, the American Plane maker agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and to pay fines ranging between $243.6 million (Sh31.7 billion) and $487 million (Sh63.3 billion).
The fines are a fraction of $24.8 billion (Sh3.2 trillion) in compensation that families of the crash victims initially requested.
US law firm, Ribbeck Law Chartered in a plea to a US District Court, seen by the Star, has disputed the agreement, arguing the compensation amount as “too little.”
Instead, it is pushing for a higher compensation (more than double) of between $47 billion (Sh6.1 trillion) to $58 billion (Sh7.5 trillion), saying this is more in line with previous criminal fraud cases involving corporate firms and where larger fines amounting to billions of dollars were charged-even when they did not involve deaths.
Ribbeck is urging the Court to dismiss the proposed plea suggesting that Boeing should be required to pay a substantial fine which recognises the value of each of the 346 people killed, the significant harm to others and pay a fine which is consistent with fines paid by other corporate criminal defendants who have engaged in extreme criminal conduct.
“RLC, on behalf of its clients, vehemently objects to the proposed plea agreement entered into by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Boeing concerning the recent criminal fraud charges,” said Manuel von Ribbeck, Founding Partner at Ribbeck Law Chartered.
He said the proposed fine is grossly inadequate and fails to meet the standards set by prior precedents in penalising corporations for similar egregious conduct.
It cites among other precedents that of several banks that were required to pay billions of dollars because of financial fraud, including a $ 25 billion (Sh3.3 trillion) settlement in 2012 involving JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and GMAC.
A $16 billion (Sh2.1 trillion) settlement was also paid by Bank of America in 2014.
In another instance, the lawyers cited a fraud case involving Boeing, in which the plane maker obtained insider information from a United States Government official which it then used to obtain a government contract worth billions (in exchange for Boeing employing the official’s family and later the official, Boeing paid $615 million (Sh79.9 billion) in a civil settlement and $50 million (Sh6.5 billion) for potentially criminal conduct.
The severity of Boeing’ actions, which resulted in the tragic loss of 346 lives in the 737 MAX crashes, the lawyers said, necessitates a far more substantial financial penalty.
“Historically, fines for corporate criminal fraud have been in the billions, reflecting the gravity of such offences and serving as a deterrent to other corporations," said Ribbeck.
In stark contrast, the proposed fine for Boeing is a mere fraction of these amounts, failing to reflect the catastrophic consequences of their actions and undermining public trust in the justice system.
On March 10,2019, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed near the town of Bishoftu, six minutes after take-off, killing all 149 on board including 32 Kenyans.
It was headed for Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport in Ethiopia.
Other nationalities killed in the crash were 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Italians, eight Chinese, eight Americans, seven Britons, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Germans, four Indians and four people from Slovakia.
While Boeing had initially made compensations, the additional fines, if upheld, may see families of the victims get additional compensation from Boeing possibly in billions of dollars.
Another plane of the same model was involved in a crash less than five months earlier, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with 189 people on board.
Ribbeck argued that the DOJ’s recommendation does not align with the scale of the wrongdoing and sets a dangerous precedent that large corporations can evade appropriate punishment for criminal activities that jeopardise public safety and trust.
“Boeing’s actions were not just regulatory missteps; they were deliberate and deceitful measures to prioritise profit over human lives. Such conduct demands the highest levels of accountability and a penalty that truly reflects the magnitude of the crime,” he said.
The lawyers argue that only through such measures can justice be served and a clear message sent that corporate misconduct of this magnitude would not be tolerated in future.
Meanwhile, Boeing has been changing the way it operates and is trying to make its 737 Boeing Max 8 model safer, amid overall safety and operational improvements.
According to the firm’s executives, they have charted a path forward to fix the company through better oversight, improved safety and manufacturing procedures, and more robust training for workers (many of them new hires), after pandemic-era buyouts and layoffs of thousands of employees.