January 25, 2007
Ecuador Officials Find No Basis for Fraud Allegations Against Chevron Concerning Environmental Remediation Program
Findings Refute Claims by Plaintiffs' Attorneys, Amazon Defense Front and Amazon Watch in Environmental Lawsuit
San Ramon, Calif., January 25, 2007 - In separate actions in Quito and in New York officials within the Ecuadorian government have acknowledged that there is no evidence of fraud on the part of Chevron, Texaco Petroleum Company (Texpet) or any of their employees concerning the remediation program carried out by the company between 1995 and 1998, nor evidence to support any criminal investigation against the company regarding the remediation.
These acknowledgements contradict repeated claims by plaintiffs' attorneys and activist groups that a criminal investigation of fraud was underway in Ecuador against representatives of Chevron and Texpet.
"The Republic of Ecuador has made clear that there is no evidence to support the claim of fraud, said Ricardo Veiga, Chevron Vice President and General Counsel, Latin America Products. Former Ecuador Attorney General Jose Maria Borja., in sworn testimony in September, 2006 admitted that he had neither facts nor evidence of fraud related to Texaco's remediation program.
Additionally, on August 9, 2006, the Prosecutor General of Ecuador concluded that fraud allegations made by the Comptroller General had no merit, and did not warrant a criminal investigation. Specifically, the report concluded,
"A review of the report on the Special Examination referred to by the Comptroller General shows that he does not find civil or administrative liability in any of his conclusions, nor does he find evidence of any criminal liability for any crime whatsoever.
"...Moreover, there is an obvious contradiction between the report on the Special Examination (by the Comptroller General), none of the findings of which indicate any evidence of criminal liability, and the criminal complaint, which the Controller General alleges to be based on evidence found in the Examination.
"...I therefore dismiss the criminal complaint filed by the Comptroller General..."
"The government's actions are a matter of public record, yet the plaintiffs' attorneys and their supporters continue making these claims. One can only conclude they are choosing to ignore the government's findings because it completely undermines their accusations and further hurts their already deteriorating court case."
With well over two years of legal proceedings in the Superior Court in Nueva Loja and completion of 45 of 122 judicial site inspections of oil field sites, the overwhelming body of evidence shows that the people of the Oriente region face no significant oil-related health risk from the areas remediated by Texpet. This evidence clearly refutes the claims made by the plaintiffs' lawyers.
As a result, plaintiffs' attorneys and their supporters are attempting to circumvent the judicial process and extort a settlement by attacking Chevron's reputation and integrity. Baseless allegations of fraud are simply one example of this dishonest and increasingly desperate tactic.
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