(CN) - A discovery order poses new complications for Chevron as it tries to distance itself from a convicted drug felon and to discredit an $18.2 billion judgment for massive oil contamination in the Amazon.
Chevron and its predecessor, Texaco, have denied responsibility for the environmental devastation while fighting the case on two continents for 18 years.
As a trial on the matter wound down in Ecuador two years ago, Chevron obtained secret footage of an ex-parte meeting with Judge Juan Núñez, who was presiding over the case. One of the cameramen was Diego Borja, a Chevron contractor; the other was Wayne Hansen, a convicted drug felon with whom Chevron denies having any relationship.
Borja and Hansen claimed to catch Núñez accepting bribes, and Chevron used those videos to tar the country's judiciary.
Though Núñez denied the allegations and the description of the footage, he stepped down from the case to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Meanwhile advocates for the Ecuadoreans fired back by attacking the cameramen's credibility, citing an Associated Press investigation asserting that Hansen was busted for conspiring to traffic 275,000 pounds of marijuana in 1986.
For its part, Chevron still points to the videos as an example of corruption in the Ecuadorean judicial system.
Weeks before a replacement Ecuadorean judge ruled against Chevron, the oil giant filed a federal lawsuit in the United States, calling the impending judgment fraudulent, and initiated arbitration with the Ecuadorean government at The Hague soon after.
To defend its judiciary, Ecuador hopes to use documents that it subpoenaed from the Chevron cameraman, Borja, which are currently protected by attorney-client privilege.
A new court order from the Northern District of California details the bizarre developments surrounding Ecuador's efforts to subpoena Borja's associate, Hansen. The government of Ecuador says a process server found Hansen's house abandoned, and that Hansen apparently waltzed off to Peru while he was supposed to be in a Los Angeles hospital run by the Veterans Administration.
Ecuador relied on two cryptic emails obtained during discovery to justify its claims of misconduct.
Hansen sent the first message, bearing the subject line "dooped ?????", to a Chevron investigator weeks before the release of the Núñez videos in July 2009.
"I have been waiting for your call, you said you would call me. ... It seems that the oil co has cut a deal with Diego [Borja] and I have not heard a word from anyone but Diego. What am I to think? ...
"As I can see the window of life coming to a close I will not hold back. I need to hear from a real player with a plan for Wayne [Hansen]. If I do not hear from the oil co. by July 17, 09 I must think I have been left out and I am to do what and think what ... I have been dooped.
"I must go and see Judge Nunez to explain and ask forgiveness as I am sure my life will be in danger a care only to me." [Spelling errors and punctuation in original.]
On Dec. 3, 2010, about two months after Ecuador obtained a subpoena for Hansen, he sent a similarly enigmatic email to the investigative firm that Borja purportedly hired to locate Hansen. Mason Investigative Group boasts "discreet, effective investigations for lawyers and businesses" on its website.