FILE PHOTO: A Boeing 737 MAX aircraft is assembled at the company's plant in Renton, Washington, U.S. June 25, 2024. Jennifer Buchanan/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Thursday approved a request by the Justice Department to dismiss a criminal case against Boeing in a deal that allowed the planemaker to avoid prosecution on a charge stemming from two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes that killed 346 people but harshly criticized the decision.

Judge Reed O'Connor, of the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, said he disagreed with the Justice Department that dismissing the case is in the public interest but said he did not have authority to reject the decision. He added the government's deal with Boeing "fails to secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public."

Boeing did not immediately comment.

In September, O'Connor held a three-hour hearing to consider objections to the deal, questioning the government's decision to drop a requirement that Boeing face oversight from an independent monitor for three years and instead hire a compliance consultant. He heard anguished objections from relatives of some of those killed in the crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 to the non-prosecution agreement.

O'Connor said the government’s position is "Boeing committed crimes sufficient to justify prosecution, failed to remedy its fraudulent behavior on its own during the (deferred prosecution agreement) which justified a guilty plea and the imposition of an independent monitor, but now Boeing will remedy that dangerous culture by retaining a consultant of its own choosing."

The government argued Boeing has improved and the Federal Aviation Administration is providing enhanced oversight. Boeing and the government argued O'Connor had no choice but to dismiss the case.

O'Connor said in 2023 that "Boeing's crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history."

Under the non-prosecution deal, Boeing agreed to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims' fund to be divided evenly per victim of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes, on top of a new $243.6 million fine and over $455 million to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety, and quality programs.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul)