From: Upstreamonline
Chevron has released details of video recordings which it claims reveal that the judge presiding over a $27 billion environmental lawsuit agreed with Ecuadorean government officials to rule against the US supermajor.
The video, copies of which Chevron said have been turned over to US and Ecuadorean officials, purports to show Judge Juan Nunez and representatives of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa agreeing that Nunez will rule against Chevron in a $27 billion suit brought by indigenous Ecuadoreans.
Chevron also alleged that the video shows government officials agreeing that the court will close all avenues of appeal in the suit.
The supermajor further claimed that the video shows a representative of the government saying government lawyers would "help the judge write the decision".
“There are very serious issues both regarding the judge’s conduct and very serious executive branch interference in our case that needs to be investigated,” Chevron spokesman Donald Campbell told UpstreamOnline.
The supermajor has not confirmed that the people in the video represent the Correa administration, Campbell said.
Chevron said it received the tapes from Diego Borja, an Ecuadorean who worked for the company as a logistics contractor.
Chevron claimed that Borja and Wayne Hansen, a US businessman, secretly recorded their meetings with the judge and representatives of the Correa administration, and then provided the tapes to Chevron.
Chevron said the company did not instruct the pair to record their meetings, nor did it offer the pair any compensation for the tapes.
Campbell said he did not know why Borja gave the tapes to the company.
“That is still a bit of a mystery,” he told UpstreamOnline. “In the case of Mr Borja, he has been a contractor to Chevron. It might have been that he was motivated by his desire to help the company.”
The video also appears to implicate President Correa's sister, Pierina Correa, in the alleged attempt to bribe the judge.
However, it is not clear from either the recording or the transcript whether the bribes mentioned in the tape were actually paid or whether Nunez was aware of the attempt to bribe him.
It is also unclear whether Correa's sister was aware of the plan or had taken part in it.
Karen Hinton, spokesperson for the Amazon Defense Coalition, released a statement in response to the supermajor’s accusations.
“We understand the seriousness of Chevron’s allegations. An appropriate investigation will determine whether the allegations are true or if they are the product of a dirty tricks campaign designed and financed by the company,” Hinton said.
She acknowledged that the video shows a former Chevron contractor that appears to have been taking part in a bribery scheme involving an alleged official of a political party.
However, there are questions about the video's validity, as there are small discrepancies between the tape and Chevron’s press release, as well as signs of editing in the 20-minute film. The questions have not yet been resolved.
“It also seems clear from a review of Chevron’s transcripts – whose authenticity has yet to be verified - that the judge continually resisted the attempted bribery scheme put to him by a former Chevron contractor,” she said.
“The video seems to fit squarely into Chevron’s historic pattern of corruption in Ecuador.”
UpstreamOnline could not immediately reach Ecuadorean officials or Pablo Fajardo, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, to comment on the video.
Campbell was not positive that the tapes would be admissible in court but said Chevron is “not aware” that any laws were broken in making the recordings.
Campbell said Chevron “felt compelled” to make the tapes public to prevent retaliation against Borja, “to prevent further unlawful conduct”, and to prompt an investigation into the judge’s handling of the case.
Chevron sent a letter to federal prosecutor’s office and attorney general’s office in Ecuador, as well as the US ambassador to Ecuador and Ecuador’s ambassador to the US asking them to look into the matter.
Plaintiffs in the case, which has been in court since the early 1990s, claim their health was damaged by contamination from drilling and production in the Amazon rainforest by Texaco. Chevron later bought Texaco.
They accused the company of having used out-of-date technology that led to environmental damage.