Amazon Defense Coalition

: American Businessman Wayne Hansen Has Ties to Chevron in Bribery Scheme, Investigation Finds
Wed Sep 9, 2009 2:37pm EDT

New Information Contradicts Earlier Claim by Oil Giant As Questions Grow About
Chevron`s Own Role

Chevron Refuses to Make Key Witnesses Available; Refuses to Release Second Video
to Public; Refuses to Disclose Details of Payments to Contractor


WASHINGTON
American businessman Wayne Hansen, who secretly made a video recording which
implicates himself and a Chevron contractor in a bribery scheme related to the
company`s $27 billion liability in Ecuador, is connected to a consulting firm
that lists Chevron as a client and may have his legal fees paid by the oil
giant, according to news reports and a spokesperson for the rainforest
communities suing the company.

Chevron`s ties to Hansen directly contradict repeated assertions by Chevron
lawyers and spokespersons that the company has no relationship to the American
businessman, said Karen Hinton, a spokesperson for the indigenous and farmer
communities suing the oil company in Ecuador.

"Chevron needs to answer several critical questions to clarify its own role in
these events, and it also needs to explain why it has not previously disclosed
its connection to Hansen. If this is not the Wayne Hansen who recorded the tapes
that Chevron put on You Tube and released widely to the news media, then Chevron
should identify who the real Wayne Hansen is," said Hinton.

Hansen has dropped out of sight since the scandal erupted last Monday when
Chevron posted the videos shot by Hansen and a former Chevron contractor, Diego
Borgia, on You Tube. The videos show Hansen and Borja secretly filming themselves
and other persons with hidden cameras discussing a bribery scheme in which
Hansen would apparently be the beneficiary of a environmental clean-up contract
should Chevron lose the case.

Chevron`s ties to Hansen raise further questions about whether the company in
any way facilitated the bribery scheme to undermine the 16-year litigation on
the eve of a final judgment, which was expected within weeks, said Hinton. The
judge in the trial, Juan Nunez, rec used himself last week so Ecuadorian
authorities could investigate the matter. He was immediately replaced by a new
judge from the same court.

The case is taking place in Ecuador at Chevron`s request after it was initially
filed in the U.S. Texaco (now Chevron) is accused in the suit of deliberately
dumping more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways when
it operated a large oil concession from 1964 to 1990, creating what some experts
believe is the worst oil-related contamination on earth. In 2008, a
court-appointed Special Master and team of technical experts found damages could
be as high as $27.3 billion.

The revelations about Hansen add to a growing list of questions about
inaccuracies in the videotapes and inconsistencies between Chevron`s assertions
and known facts.

Bloom berg News is reporting that Hansen - who has not been available for
questioning -- has apparently hired an American lawyer. Chevron spokesperson
Kent Robertson said in the news article that the oil company "is considering"
paying his legal fees.

See the Bloom berg article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=azwOVWeGukJI

Further, Hansen`s biography obtained on the Internet identifies him as the
former Chief Mechanical Engineer and Director of Energy Engineering at RJM
Associates, which lists Chevron as a client. The owner of that company, Richard
Miller, has longtime ties to Texaco and started his career with the company in
1967 -- coincidentally the same year Texaco dug its first well in Ecuador`s
Amazon. Chevron has failed to disclose its connection to Hansen in any of its
press materials.

See the following links.
Hansen bio: http://www.eicconsultants.com/seminars/presenters/hansen.htm
RJM Associates web site: http://www.rjmanda.com/

Other key questions remain that only Chevron can answer, Hinton said. These
include whether Chevron or any of its officials - including those in its legal
office in Quito -- orchestrated the bribery scheme. Ecuadorian authorities are
expected to focus on this question as well as the role of Judge Nunez.

Additional questions appear to contradict Chevron`s version of events:

* Chevron claims there were two hidden cameras - yet Chevron has released only
one video to the media, suggesting the two tapes were spliced together. Chevron
has refused to release the second videotape or explain how the tapes were
edited.
* Chevron claimed it received the videotapes in early June, yet the fourth
meeting - the only meeting where a bribe was discussed - took place on June 15
and emails about the scheme were exchanged by Borgia in late June well after
Chevron claims it learned of the activities. Chevron`s legal department needs to
disclose any contacts Chevron officials had with any participant in the final
meeting and whether Chevron officials scripted or in any way influenced that
meeting.
* Chevron also has refused to fully explain its relationship to Borgia. Chevron
has not disclosed how much money it paid to Borgia, any other assistance it has
given him, when the company first had contact with him, and whether its
Ecuadorian legal team directed or otherwise influenced his actions. In its
initial press materials, Chevron did not disclose that Borja worked for the
company as late as March of this year during the environmental trial in
Ecuador.

Andrew Woods, an American legal adviser to the plaintiffs, also said it is clear
from the videotapes that Chevron`s contractor Borgia taped himself offering a
bribe for a remediation contract - a fact which may have violated U.S. criminal
laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, if indeed Borgia was acting on
behalf of Chevron or any other American entity.

Lawyers for the Amazonian communities are urging U.S. authorities to fully
investigate the facts surrounding the videos given that many of the witnesses
from Chevron are in the U.S., and that Chevron itself has continually criticized
the Ecuadorian government for being biased against it in the trial and thus
would not accept any findings that did not comport with its wishes, said Hinton.
Already, Ecuador`s national prosecutor and Judicial Council have launched
separate investigations into Chevron`s allegations.

On Saturday, the Laos Angele's Times - the largest daily newspaper in Chevron`s
home state of California -- published an editorial calling for the company to be
included in any investigation of the facts surrounding the bribery scandal. It
also concluded it was unclear from the videotapes if Judge Nunez is even
implicated, as Chevron also repeatedly claims in its recent press materials.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they did not expect the trial to be affected in
a significant way by the recursion, particularly since the vast majority of the
evidence - including 100% of the evidence used by the Special Master to assess
damages - had already been presented to the court before Judge Nunez took over
as presiding judge.

About the Amazon Defense Coalition

The Amazon Defense Coalition represents the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and dozens
of rain forest communities and five indigenous groups that inhabit Ecuador`s
Northern Amazon region. The mission of the Coalition is to protect the
environment and secure social justice through grass roots organizing, political
advocacy, and litigation. Two of its leaders, Luis Yanza and Pablo Fajardo, are
the 2008 winners of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.