Blogger Bob McCarty, who has done much good reporting on the trial lawyer/environmentalist/Ecuador lawsuit against Chevron, provides an update in the wake of videos released by Chevron that forced the Ecuadorian judge to step down. The videos also implicated the ruling party of President Rafael Correa in a fully corrupted legal process.

It seems the Ecuadorian government sees the entire litigation as a money-making venture, with Washington Pesantez, the South American country’s prosecutor general, now admitting as much.

From “Proving Amazon Watch, Others Wrong Too Easy“:

[Amidst] the furor over Chevron’s release of video tapes that appear to implicate Ecuadoran government officials — including President Rafael Correa and Juan Nunez, the judge who was hearing the case but has since recused himself — in a $3 million bribery scheme, Pesantez held a press conference Sept. 4 in his Quito office.

During that press conference, Pesantez said a number of amazing things, one of which stands out: he stated that 90 percent of the $27 billion award pending against Chevron would go to the government of Ecuador. To understand exactly what he said, read the transcript of the prosecutor general’s press conference English or Spanish.

Funny, we thought all the money was going to go to the Amazon Defense Coalition.  Were the issues not so serious — a naked shakedown of a U.S. company by an increasingly anti-American government, aided by propagandizing NGOs and U.S. trial lawyers — we’d almost laugh at the prospect of them fighting among themselves.

Chevron today released videos and materials documenting a bribery scheme that would enrich the presiding judge in Ecuador, Juan Núñez, for ruling against the company in a multibillion lawsuit orchestrated by U.S. trial lawyers and environmentalists. (See below.)

We remember Judge Núñez from the sympathetic portrait “60 Minutes” did of him in its hit piece against Chevron earlier in May. The good folks at the Business and Media Institute destroyed the CBS pseudo-news report in an analysis, “‘60 Minutes’ Promotes $27-Billion Leftist ‘Fraud’ Efforts Against Chevron.” The whole piece is worth revisiting, but especially this part about Judge Núñez, under the title, “‘60 Minutes’ Gives Pass to Ecuadoran Justice System”:

The case will be heard by Juan Nunez, a judge in Lago Agrio, Ecuador. The ruling could come at anytime and Chevron is doubtful it will get a fair ruling. Pelley’s investigation took him to the Ecuadoran court, but he didn’t press the judge on the government’s poor reputation for fair justice.

“So who is the $27-billion judge? We found Juan Nunez in his court on the third floor of this shopping mall in the Amazon town of Lago Agrio,” Pelley said. “Texaco named the town for Sour Lake, Texas where Texaco got its start. Nunez struck us as serious and thoughtful. He’s been on the case for a year and he’s been out to the waste pits. The verdict will be his decision alone. There is no jury.”

Pelley inquired to Nunez if Chevron would get a fair hearing, explaining Chevron felt otherwise.

“That is not the case,” Nunez replied through a translator. “I believe that justice has to be given to everyone as they deserve – like a good father of a family, to give a child what a child is entitled to.”

However, there is no independent rule of law in Ecuador. The country’s judiciary branch is controlled by its leftist, anti-American president, Rafeal Correa, who came to power in January 2007. Correa had actually called those who brought the suit against Chevron “heroes” according to “60 Minutes,” showing there’s no impartiality by the Ecuadoran government.

In June, major business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers wrote U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk drawing attention to trade preferences granted to country, deeply troubling in light of the corruption. From the letter:

As found by the State Department in its annual human rights report on Ecuador released in February 2009, there are concerns with “corruption and the denial of due process within [Ecuador’s] judicial system.” U.S. businesses have also continued to see Ecuador’s repudiation of its legal obligations to U.S. investors and a politicization of the judicial system.

So there is a clear pattern of corruption, well documented, now punctuated by the videos released by Chevron.

Disclosure: I’ve already disclosed this numerous times, but in June, I went to Ecuador on Chevron’s dime for an on-site briefing of the issues.

Chevron today released damning evidence of a bribery scheme to rig the court proceedings against the company in Ecuador, ostensibly for environmental damage by its predecessor — Texaco — but in reality just because Chevron is a successful U.S.-based energy company that makes a convenient target to U.S. trial lawyers and environmental activists.

What’s really surprising here is not the corruption — the rule of law has been horribly debased in Ecuador under the regime of Rafael Correa — but the blatant assumptions on display: Of course you can buy a multibillion-dollar verdict against Chevron.

Chevron has full video and transcripts documenting the bribery scheme at its website: http://www.chevron.com/ecuador/. And a Chevron news release summarizes, “Videos Reveal Serious Judicial Misconduct and Political Influence in Ecuador Lawsuit“:

SAN RAMON, Calif.– SAN RAMON, Calif., Aug. 31, 2009 – Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX) today provided authorities in Ecuador and the U.S. with video recordings that reveal a $3 million bribery scheme implicating the judge presiding over the environmental lawsuit currently pending against the company and individuals who identify themselves as representatives of the Ecuadorian government and its ruling party.

In the videos, the judge confirms that he will rule against Chevron and that appeals by the energy company will be denied – even though the trial is ongoing and evidence is still being received. A purported party official also states that lawyers from the executive branch have been sent to assist the judge in writing the decision.

The recorded meetings also show an individual who claims to be a representative of Ecuador`s ruling political party, Alianza PAIS, seeking $3 million in bribes in return for handing out environmental remediation contracts to two businessmen after the verdict is handed down. Of that sum, he said $1 million would go to Judge Juan Núñez, $1 million would go to “the presidency” and $1 million to the
plaintiffs.

The video-taped meetings occurred in May and June of 2009. Two of the meetings took place at the Quito offices of Alianza PAIS, one meeting took place in the judge`s chambers in Lago Agrio, and a second meeting involving the judge took place in a Quito hotel.

After referring the evidence of the scheme to authorities, Chevron Executive Vice President Charles James said that company lawyers will seek the disqualification of the judge in the case and annulment of his prior rulings.

“Chevron has consistently asserted that the case has involved improper complicity between the plaintiffs and Ecuador`s executive branch and other legal irregularities,” James said. “These video recordings raise additional serious questions about corruption, executive branch interference and prejudgment of the case that demand a full investigation. No judge who has participated in meetings of the type shown on these tapes could possibly deliver a legitimate decision.”

There’s more of the news release, and the video itself is also here on YouTube.