press release

Judge Who Issued $18.2 Billion Ruling Against Chevron Removed From Bench

SAN RAMON, Calif., March 8, 2012 – Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) today renewed itsrequest在美联社和厄瓜多尔的调查之后，厄瓜多尔当局调查了大量证据表明拉戈阿格里奥诉讼中存在欺诈行为El Universo该报透露，对雪佛龙作出182亿美元判决的法官尼古拉斯·赞布拉诺（Nicolás Zambrano）已被撤职，原因是他与厄瓜多尔法院腐败和贩毒的新故事有共谋。

The media outlets reported that the Judicial Council, the body that governs the Ecuadorian judiciary, has determined that Judge Zambrano, and Judge Leonardo Ordóñez, who previously presided over the Lago Agrio lawsuit, should be dismissed from their positions on the Court of Justice of Sucumbíos in Lago Agrio following an investigation into allegations of lenient treatment of drug dealers in cases before them. The investigation and subsequent dismissals followed a complaint filed by Ecuador's Organized Crime Prevention Unit.

“雪佛龙已经通过原告律师自己的文件和电影资料显示，赞布拉诺法官对雪佛龙的裁决是由原告律师代笔的。证据还显示，原告代理人通过一个秘密银行账户向至少一名法院官员行贿。雪佛龙副总裁兼总法律顾问休伊特•帕特（Hewitt Pate）说：“现在看来，Sucumbíos法庭受到了更广泛的腐败问题的困扰。”希望现在这些法官已经被免职，其他人会拿出法庭上发生的不法行为的证据。”

Through court-ordered discovery, Chevron has obtained evidence that the Lago Agrio plaintiffs' lawyers and consultants, at a minimum, provided clandestine assistance to the Lago Agrio court in drafting the judgment against Chevron. Much of thejudgmenttracks the plaintiffs' lawyers' own internal, unfiled documents word-for-word, citing figures from the plaintiffs' lawyers' internal database that did not form part of the record, as well as copying errors and idiosyncratic reference citations.

The ghostwriting of judgments in Ecuador is not unique to the Lago Agrio case. As has been widely reported, theEl Universonewspaper suffered similar treatment in an equally-politicized trial featuring evidence that the ultimate judgment was written by lawyers working for the plaintiff, in this instance President Rafael Correa. The handling of theEl Universo案件是，在wordsof theWashington Post, "alas, worthy of a banana republic. After four changes of judge, a 'temporary' magistrate took over the case, held one hearing, and—33 hours after his appointment—issued the 156-page ruling. A subsequent independent investigation determined that he did not write it, and that the author was probably Mr. Correa's attorney."

Other independent organizations have noted the steep decline in the capability of the Ecuadorian judiciary to administer impartial justice. Since Correa's election, the U.S. State Department hasreported关于“司法机构容易因有利的判决和法律案件的解决而受到贿赂，以及法官将案件分给外部律师，由外部律师写出司法判决书并交回审判长签字。”其他组织也得出了类似的结论，认为厄瓜多尔的排名接近世界末位所有国家都支持“法治”和类似措施。

Chevron is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide. The company is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at m.hnhanxing.com.

Published: March 2012