• AUGUST 31, 2009, 6:04 P.M. ET

By Angel Gonzalez and Mercedes Alvaro
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=var67Gg9rKs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8E-M0j2o-I&feature=related

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--A long-running battle between Chevron Corp. (CVX) and an indigenous group in Ecuador took a new twist on Tuesday when the oil company revealed video recordings showing that the judge had decided on an outcome before the trial's end.

Chevron, of San Ramon, Calif., posted the videos on its Web site and on the YouTube Internet video hub. The company also sent the alleged evidence to Ecuador's authorities, requesting an investigation, and notified the U.S. Department of Justice.

Although Judge Juan Nunez is still accepting evidence as part of his deliberations, the video footage shows Nunez saying he would rule against Chevron in October or November of this year.

Nunez, who has presided since September 2008, is the latest in a series of judges in Ecuador who have overseen a dispute between Chevron and a group residing in the Amazon region over environmental contamination that took place decades ago. The group claims that Chevron should pay for pollution caused by the oil operations of Texaco, which it acquired in 2001, while Chevron says Ecuador released it from liabilities after a clean-up by the company.

The judge was recorded by two businessmen seeking to gain a clean-up contract in the aftermath of the ruling, which is widely expected to go against the company. Two meetings between the judge and the businessmen, Chevron says, were arranged by an official who on video claimed to be a representative of Ecuador's ruling party. This person sought a bribe in the amount of $3 million. One of the businessmen is a former Chevron contractor, Diego Borja, who handed over the footage to Chevron's lawyers. The other businessman involved in the recordings was an American with no previous relationship with the oil company, Chevron said.

In the recorded conversation, viewed by Dow Jones Newswires, Nunez didn't accept any bribes and said he was present "as a judge, and nothing else." But on the video, he told the businessmen that he would rule against Chevron in October or November of this year.

The judge is showing bias while evidence in the case is still being submitted, so should be "disqualified from the case," said Charles James, an executive vice president for Chevron, in an interview.

Chevron has sought to question the independence of Ecuador's judiciary, in an effort to lay the groundwork to block enforcement of the case, which the company itself says it expects to lose, in the U.S.

In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Nunez, who said he hadn't reviewed the video recordings released by Chevron, denied he made the statements.

"I have on several occasions met with people from Chevron and with the plaintiffs, in my court office," said Nunez, who said he hasn't seen the video. "I have never said that I will dictate a ruling in favor nor against Chevron nor the plaintiffs. To everybody who has asked me, what I have said is that the sentence could be released in October or November or as late as January 2010.

"Nobody has offered me any money. I have not met with government officials, nor from the government's party to deal with the Chevron case."

In footage of a different meeting, also provided by Chevron, the person who claimed to represent Ecuador's ruling political party asked the two businessmen to deposit $3 million in bribes - one third for the presidency, one third for the judge, and the rest to be divided among the plaintiffs and the Ecuadorean president's sister. The judge does not appear to be present in that meeting.

Ricardo Patino, a minister with Ecuador's government, declined to comment, saying he hadn't watched the video, nor had he heard anything about it.

"The lawyers don't have anything to do with the alleged video or bribe," said Julio Prieto, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs in Ecuador. "I believe that it is a forged video and also fabricated to seek to implicate the government in acts against the law."

In November, a court-appointed expert estimated that Chevron should pay more than $27 billion for environmental damage that occurred in the Lago Agrio region of the Amazon. Chevron is contesting the claim and has vowed to fight any adverse ruling. According to the transcripts of the videos Chevron posted, the businessmen were looking to be awarded contracts for environmental remediation on the heels of such a ruling.

Chevron's James said the company had taken "reasonable steps" to verify that the videos, which the company says were recorded in four different meetings in Quito and in the judge's chambers in Lago Agrio, were legitimate. Chevron said it had no involvement or knowledge of the planning leading up to the recordings. It's unclear whether the businessmen, who couldn't be reached, were involved in the scheme.

Chevron declined to disclose their location due to concerns for their safety.

The meetings, Chevron says, occurred in May and June, although the last meeting took place after the two businessmen contacted Chevron about the recordings. Neither man was paid to provide the video recording to Chevron, but the company said it helped Borja with relocation expenses "and other interim support."

Steven Donziger, a New York-based attorney for the plaintiffs, said that the revelations are "bizarre" and "raises more questions about Chevron than it does about the judge," especially because the businessmen who recorded the conversations are unavailable to the media.

-By Angel Gonzalez, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9214; angel.gonzalez@dowjones.com

-By Mercedes Alvaro, Dow Jones Newswires; 5939-9728-653; mercedes.alvaro@dowjones.com

(Ben Casselman in Dallas contributed to this article.)