WASHINGTON: Boeing Co’s legal troubles grew on Tuesday as a new lawsuit accused the company of defrauding shareholders by concealing safety deficiencies in its 737 MAX planes before two fatal crashes led to their worldwide grounding.
The proposed class action filed in Chicago federal court seeks damages for alleged securities fraud violations, after Boeing’s market value tumbled by $34 billion within two weeks of the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX.
Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg and Chief Financial Officer Gregory Smith were also named as defendants.
Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers had no immediate comment.
According to the complaint, Boeing “effectively put profitability and growth ahead of airplane safety and honesty” by rushing the 737 MAX to market to compete with Airbus SE, while leaving out “extra” or “optional” features designed to prevent the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes.
It also said Boeing’s statements about its growth prospects and the 737 MAX were undermined by its alleged conflict of interest from retaining broad authority from federal regulators to assess the plane’s safety.
Richard Seeks, the lead plaintiff, said Boeing’s compromises began to emerge after the Ethiopian Airlines crash killed all 157 onboard, five months after the Lion Air crash killed 189.
Seeks said he bought 300 Boeing shares in early March, and sold them at a loss within the last two weeks. The lawsuit seeks damages for Boeing stock investors from Jan. 8 to March 21.
Shareholders often file lawsuits accusing companies of securities fraud for concealing material negative information that causes the stock price to decline upon becoming public.
Chicago-based Boeing faces many other lawsuits over the crashes, including by victims’ families and by participants in its employee retirement plans.
(Agencies)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said there could be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins the 2019 election, Indian media reported.
PM Khan said if Congress forms the next Indian government, chances of peace talks would be slim since Congress might be ‘too scared’ to seek a settlement with Pakistan over Kashmir.
If the BJP wins, a kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached, according to PM Imran Khan, the reports said.
He, however, said Indian Muslims, who had been happy about their situation in India, were now worried by extreme Hindu nationalism.
Khan also stated that Modi, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was electioneering based on the “fear and nationalist feeling”. (Agencies)
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the Israeli national election, securing a record fifth term in office, Israeli media reported.
Netanyahu won the election despite running neck-and-neck with his contender Benny Gantz, Israel’s major television channels said today.
With 97 percent of the votes counted, neither of the parties had captured a ruling majority.
However, Netanyahu was in a strong position to form a coalition government with other right-wing factions. (Agencies)
KUALA LUMPUR: Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, was temporarily arrested on Tuesday, international media reports said.
She was arrested by the country’s anti-corruption body and will be charged again for her involvement in a solar power project for rural schools.
KABUL: Some five people, including three U.S. soldiers and a U.S. contractor and an assailant, were killed in a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan on Monday, media report said on Tuesday quoting authorities.
Eight others were injured in the explosion and are receiving treatment, authorities said in a statement.
GENEVA: At least 47 people were killed and 181 others were wounded in clashes between the Libyan National Army (LNA) and militias countering its advance on the capital, Tripoli.
It was announced was by the UN’s health body on Tuesday.
The LNA, commanded by Khalifa Haftar, started the operation to cleanse Tripoli of terrorists and criminal gangs last week. The UN agency warned that the renewed fighting could deplete medical supplies.
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling alliance will win a thin majority in a general election, media report said showing four opinion polls.
The alliance led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to win 273 of the 543 parliament seats at stake, one more than the halfway mark required to rule, Reuters reported.
In the last election, the alliance won more than 330 seats – the biggest mandate in three decades.
PARIS: Society General Bank of France on Tuesday decided to cut its as many as 1,600 staffers working in different branches of the company across the globe.
Among those laid off are 750 staffers from France alone. The bank took a decision to this effect in order to implement its two big restructuring projects.
“To ensure profit-oriented and sustainable growth at the international banking and financial service is the main goal of the move,” said the bank.
The staffers from France are given voluntary retirement while those from other countries dealt with in line with the local regulations and laws.
A total of 148,000 staffers are currently working in this multinational investment bank worldwide.
(Agencies)
NEW DELHI: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticized the Congress manifesto for echoing Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir, Indian media reported.
Attacking the Congress, PM Modi continued his attack saying Congress views echoed Pakistan’s stand that Article 370 will not be removed from Jammu and Kashmir.
Criticizing that the Congress manifesto was about weakening the security establishment, PM Modi lambasted the Congress for its anti-national thinking and attitude. (Agencies)
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump took a victory lap after special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his Russia investigation even though it may have been premature.
The investigation’s findings in the best political light is sure to be renewed in coming days when Mueller’s report is expected to be released in redacted form.
The American public will get a look at details beyond the four-page investigation summary written by Attorney General William Barr while Trump allies are concerned that the president was too quick to declare complete triumph.
“The Democrats will never be satisfied, no matter what they get, how much they get, or how many pages they get,” Trump tweeted Monday, two days after he blasted “Bob Mueller’s team of 13 Trump Haters & Angry Democrats.”
With the goal to discredit what’s coming, Trump and his allies have unleashed a series of broadsides against Mueller’s team and the Democrats pushing for full release of the final report.
After Washington waited nearly two years for Mueller to conduct his investigation, Barr released a letter last month stating that the special counsel found no evidence the Trump campaign “conspired or coordinated” with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.