Lawsuit Targets Chevron “Dirty Tricks” Operative Over Ecuador Video Corruption Scandal

[Judi Lynn]

September 14, 2010 02:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Amazon Defense Coalition: Lawsuit Targets Chevron “Dirty Tricks” Operative Over Ecuador Video Corruption Scandal
Chevron’s Diego Borja Faces Deposition in U.S. Over Activities In Ecuador

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chevron employee Diego Borja, the oil giant’s self-proclaimed “dirty tricks” operative in Ecuador, has been targeted with a subpoena and deposition demand in California where he now lives on Chevron’s payroll within miles of its global headquarters, the Los Angeles/San Francisco Daily Journal reported today.

Borja, who has worked for Chevron in Ecuador from at least 2004 until the video scandal erupted in 2009, has been taped in a phone conversation saying he has incriminating evidence that would cause Chevron to lose the Ecuador environmental litigation, according to papers filed September 10th in federal court in San Francisco. Chevron paid for Borja to relocate to the United States, where he remains on the company payroll while living in a luxury house abutting a golf course in a gated community.

Borja has failed to turn over the incriminating evidence, but representatives of the plaintiffs have long charged the oil giant with engaging in corrupt practices to undermine the trial.

“The subpoena is important because Borja has bragged about being at the epicenter of Chevron’s fraudulent activities in Ecuador,” said Karen Hinton, spokesperson for the Amazon Defense Coalition.

More:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100914006998/en

[Wilms]

1. k&r n/t

[Judi Lynn]

2. New Damages Assessments Due Thursday in Ecuador, but Chevron Refusing to Participate

September 15, 2010 02:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Amazon Defense Coalition: New Damages Assessments Due Thursday in Ecuador, but Chevron Refusing to Participate
Judge Has More than 100 Expert Reports as Oil Giant Continues to Obstruct Judicial Process

QUITO, Ecuador--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New damages assessments from both Chevron and the Amazonian communities are due in Ecuador’s court Thursday, but Chevron has indicated it likely will refuse to participate despite complaining previously it never had the opportunity to submit its own damages report.

For more than two years, Chevron has protested a previous $27 billion report submitted by court-appointed expert Richard Cabrera.

“We predict that Chevron’s bad faith will be on full display yet again,” said Pablo Fajardo, the lead lawyer for the Amazonian communities. “Chevron complained that it did not have an opportunity to produce its own damages assessment. But when given the opportunity, company lawyers accuse the judge of bias against Chevron and launch attacks on the justice system.”

Fajardo said the Amazonian communities will submit their own damages assessment to the court on Thursday and that it was prepared by a team of scientific and medical experts. Chevron, on the other hand, recently filed a motion in Ecuador to remove the judge and cited the order asking for the new damages assessments as a basis.

More:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100915006860/en

[Judi Lynn]

3. Kicking.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[Agony]

4. "Borja conceded there was no bribe of the Ecuador trial judge, Juan Nuñez, in the videotapes"

from --> http://chevrontoxico.com/news-and-multimedia/borja-report/


Borja indicated that he and a person from Chevron, whom he referred to as his Florida-based boss, lied to gain entry into the independent laboratory that was processing the soil and water samples for the plaintiffs during the trial. (Yanza said he suspects the person is Ricardo Reis Veiga, a longtime Chevron lawyer based in Miami currently under indictment in Ecuador for lying about Texaco's remediation results.)
Transcript 6, October 1, 2009 pp. 6-8; and Transcript 11, October 1, 2009 pp. 10-12

Borja said he has worked for Chevron on the Aguinda trial since 2004 and has signed numerous court documents – contrary to Chevron's claim at the time it released the videos that Borja was a mere "logistics contractor" for the company. Portilla has worked for Chevron for four years, and his uncle has been employed by Chevron for 30 years. Borja also said he has worked for Chevron since he was 24 years old (nine years ago). Chevron's legal team, Borja, his wife and uncle have office space in a Quito building his uncle owns.
Transcript 11, October 1, 2009 pp. 6-8 and Transcript 4, October 1, 2009 p. 13

Borja conceded there was no bribe of the Ecuador trial judge, Juan Nuñez, in the videotapes – confirming the long held contention of the plaintiffs and contradicting Chevron's assertions. With the videotapes, Borja said he did in "two days" what Chevron had been trying to do for a year, which was to get the judge dismissed.
Transcript 5, October 1, 2009 p.1, Transcript 19, October 1, 2009 p. 11

Borja also said Chevron promised to make him a "business partner" for turning over the tapes. When Escobar said he would have it "made" once he became a partner of Chevron, Borja responded: "That's right, you dog... I mean, it's a brass ring brother."
Transcript 2, October 1, 2009 p. 6