Ecuador blames Chevron in video row

Ecuador's attorney general wants legal action in the US against Chevron after the superrmajor released videos that it says showed undue influence on a court case involving Chevron.

In a statement, Attorney General Washington Pesantez said Chevron could be held accountable under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and called on Ecuador's state prosecutor to open a legal suit in the US, a claim Chevron has called "absurd".

Ecuadorean indigenous groups sued Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001, in the US District Court in New York in 1993, alleging the company polluted Amazon rain forest and rivers, causing environmental and health damage.

That court said the case should be resolved by an Ecuadorean court, and the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in the small jungle city of Lago Agrio.

Chevron released recordings last month that it claims show Judge Juan Nunez, who oversaw the Lago Agrio court where the trial is being held, affirming to two businessmen that he would hold the company culpable for environmental damages.

Last week, Nunez, who denies the charges that a decision in the case had already been taken, recused himself from the case.

Nunez has said the videos were doctored, but Chevron says experts have confirmed their authenticity.

One of the businessmen in the video is a former Chevron contractor, Diego Borja, who Chevron says handed over the footage to its lawyers. The other businessman involved in the recordings was Wayne Hansen, a US citizen with no previous relationship with the oil company, Chevron said.

However, plaintiffs in the case, backed by the Amazon Defense Coalition, said today that an investigation into Hansen's background has revealed that he was employed by a consultancy that lists Chevron as a client.

Hansen reportedly used to work for RJM Associates, which has done work for Chevron and is headed by a former Texaco employee, an Amazon Defense Coalition spokeswoman said.

Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson could not confirm to UpstreamOnline that Amazon Defense Coalition had the right Wayne Hansen but said he is looking into the matter.

Ecuador's Pesantez alleged in a statement that those two businessmen had been present in meetings where activities took place that would be against the law in the US.

Chevron spokesman James Craig denied the California-based oil company was involved in "any act of corruption" and said the attorney general's announcement "is just the latest effort to deflect attention from the Ecuador government's meddling in the Lago Agrio litigation and, more broadly, of the complete politicisation of its judiciary."

"The Ecuadorean authorities seem more intent, on manufacturing a case against Chevron, than in pursuing a fair investigation," he added.

An attorney for the plantiffs, Steven Donziger, said Chevron may be trying to discredit the Ecuadorean judicial system, which the company has repeatedly claimed is biased against it.

The attorney general's office has requested that Chevron's lawyers appear for depositions.

That government office also wants other people who appear in the videos to appear for depositions.