* Ecuador's Attorney General looking into bribery charge * Judge dismisses misconduct, bribe accusations * Chevron wants judge removed from case By Alexandra Valencia QUITO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean authorities said on Tuesday they were looking into accusations by Chevron <CVX.N> that the judge involved in a $27 billion environmental lawsuit against the U.S. petroleum company is guilty of misconduct and involvement in a bribery scheme. Chevron said on Monday that it would ask to have Judge Juan Nunez disqualified from the decades-old case, after giving Ecuadorean and U.S. officials a secretly recorded video of Nunez talking of ruling against Chevron later this year. Chevron said the video, posted at its TexacoEcuador YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/texacoecuador, shows a man at another meeting identifying himself as a representative of Ecuador's ruling party and discussing a $3 million bribe for contracts, of which Nunez would get a third. Ecuador's Attorney General Washington Pesantez was examining the case to decide what action authorities should take, a spokesman for his office said on Tuesday. "We have to analyze everything here and carry out an investigation," the country's Inspector General, Diego Garcia, told local press. Both offices are responsible for investigating cases involving corruption of public employees and justice officials and demands made by foreign companies. Judge Nunez dismissed allegations of bribery. "My duty is to decide a sentence according to procedure, nothing more," he was quoted by a local newspaper as saying. The lawsuit against Chevron is registered in the oil town of Lago Agrio, where indigenous communities have accused the company of damaging the environment and their health while operating petroleum facilities in the region. The plaintiffs, represented by U.S.-based lawyer Steven Donziger, have said that Texaco dumped billions of gallons of polluted water in the jungle around where they live for more than two decades before the company left Ecuador in the early 1990s. Chevron, which purchased Texaco in 2001, has complained before about political interference in the case. An expert appointed by the Ecuadorean court said last year that Chevron should pay around $27 billion, including more than $8 billion in unjust enrichment. The company has said it would fight any adverse judgment. WATCH, PEN CAMERAS USED TO TAPE Chevron said in a statement on Monday that two meetings with Nunez and two meetings with purported party representative Patricio Garcia were recorded by both Diego Borja, a local logistics contractor who has worked for Chevron, and American Wayne Hansen, who has no relationship with the company. Chevron said the four meetings were recorded without its knowledge, through small cameras in a watch owned by Borja and a pen held by Hansen. Borja only brought the bribery scheme to the company's attention in June, Chevron said in the statement. Chevron said Borja and Hansen had been "pursuing business opportunities" in Ecuador before the potential for remediation work was brought to their attention and the meeting with Garcia was arranged to discuss it. Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson said on Monday that the two men had not explained why they recorded the meetings. Karen Hinton, a Washington D.C.-based spokeswoman for the Amazon Defense Coalition, which supports the plaintiffs, said on Monday the video showed Nunez had resisted the attempted bribe scheme put to him by the former Chevron contractor. "An appropriate investigation will determine whether the allegations are true or if they are the product of a dirty tricks campaign designed and financed by the company," Hinton said in a statement. Chevron said Borja and Hansen first met with Nunez in May after an initial meeting at Alianza Pais's Quito offices with Garcia, who said he was a representative of the party. Garcia then arranged for Borja and Hansen to fly to Lago Agrio, where the case is being heard, to see Nunez, and the two men met Nunez again at a Quito hotel in June, Chevron said. Chevron said neither man was paid, though the San Ramon, California-based company said it had assisted Borja with relocation expenses and other support because he and the company feared for his safety and that of his family. "Chevron has alerted authorities both in Ecuador and in the United States, and both governments should investigate this evidence in a serious and expeditious manner," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform said in a statement on Monday. (Writing by Patrick Markey in Bogota)
Ecuadorean public prosecutor Washington Pesantes addresses the media during a news conference in Quito, July 8, 2009. Pesantes complained against the International Police for negligence in the case of former Defense ...
