Chevron set out to destroy @SDonziger, to make an example of a human rights lawyer that dares take on the petroleum pirates. But the oil giant also went after journalists... #FreeDonziger gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
In one case, filing a complaint against the BBC Television reporter that broke the story that Chevron had destroyed key evidence in the case. I was that reporter — and survived with my job after a year of hearings.
I’ve gone way out of my way to get Chevron/Texaco’s side of the story. I finally chased them down in Ecuador’s capital, Quito. I showed them a study of the epidemic of childhood leukemia centered on where their company dumped oil sludge. chevroninecuador.org/assets/docs/ch…
Here’s their reply:
“It’s the only case of cancer in the world? How many cases of children with cancer do you have in the States?”
Texaco’s lawyer, Rodrigo Perez, was chuckling & snorting.
“Scientifically, nobody has proved that crude causes cancer.”
OK, then. But what about the epidemiological study about children with cancer in the Amazon traced to hydrocarbons? chevroninecuador.org/assets/docs/ch…
The parents of the dead kids, he said, would have some big hurdles in court:
“If there is somebody with cancer there, they must prove it is caused by crude or by the petroleum industry. And, second, they have to prove that it is OUR crude.”
Texaco’s lawyer, Rodrigo Perez leaned over with a huge grin.
“Which is absolutely impossible.”
He grinned even harder.
And maybe that’s because the evidence of oil dumping was destroyed.
Deliberately, by Chevron.
I passed the ChevronTexaco legal duo a document from their files labeled “Personal y confidential.” gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
They read in silence, stayed silent for quite a while.
And they stopped grinning.
The key part says:
“Reports . . . are to be removed from the division and field offices and be destroyed.”
gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
It came from the company boss in the States, “R. C. Shields, Presidente de la Junta.”
"Removed" and "destroyed" — that smells an awful lot like an order to destroy evidence, which in this case means evidence of abandoned pits of deadly drilling residue.
Destroying evidence that is part of a court action constitutes fraud.
In the United States, that would be a crime, a jail-time crime.
“Can we have a copy of this?” Chevron lawyer Jaime Varela asked me, pretending he’d never seen it before in his life.
I’ll pretend with them, if that gets me information. “Sure. You’ve never seen this?”
The ritual of innocence continued as they asked a secretary to make copies.
“We’re sure there’s an explanation,” Varela said. I’m sure there is. “We’ll get back to you as soon as we find out what it is.”
I’m still waiting...
gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
When I did my BBC report on the lawsuit which found Chevron had illegally dumped 16 billion gallons of oil waste in the Amazon, not everyone was happy I'd ended it with quotes from the oil giant's lawyers. But I let the Chevron lawyers hang themselves... soundcloud.com/user-835943867…
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