Offices of inspector in Ecuador-Chevron pollution suit burglarized, computers stolen

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune/Associated Press

Offices of inspector in Ecuador-Chevron pollution suit burglarized, computers stolen
The Associated Press
Published: December 20, 2007


QUITO, Ecuador: A court-appointed engineer in charge of determining whether Chevron Corp. caused environmental damage in the Ecuadorean jungle said Wednesday his offices were burglarized and three computers with information about the case were stolen.

Richard Cabrera told The Associated Press his Quito office was broken into before dawn Friday. Two desktop computers, a laptop, two printers and a digital camera were missing after the break-in, he said.

"It may be common criminals," he said. "I don't blame any of the parties in this matter, that we'll leave" to the authorities.

Cabrera is preparing a report for a class-action suit filed against the San Ramon, California-based company by 30,000 jungle settlers and Indians. They are seeking US$6 billion (€4.2 billion) in cleanup costs for the jungle region where Texaco Petroleum Co. spent three decades extracting oil before it merged with Chevron in 2001.

Cabrera said that he plans to hand in his final report on the alleged environmental damage in the last two weeks of January. The burglary "will not be an obstacle to my work," he told the AP. "I'm moving forward."



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/20/america/LA-GEN-Ecuador-Chevron-Suit.php

[annabanana]

1. "It may be common criminals,"

It might be Santa deciding he was "naughty" last year after all. . .

[mac2]

2. Any law firm or lawyer

should know enough to keep a copy of their papers in more than one office or computer. What if there was a fire not just theft? It's not like there is no crime in the world.

Shouldn't the information still be floating around there on the Internet? A computer expert could retrieve it.

I've seen the CEOs of the major oil companies on CSPAN when they were questioned by Congress. They certainly were arrogant and not at all like years ago. They live like kings in America and make life difficult in other parts of the world. They do look and act like common crooks not graduates of elite universities, etc.

Shouldn't there be an International Corporate Responsibility Act? Shouldn't the WTO have powers against criminal corporations who do world trade and destroy things? Most the oil companies walk away from the damage and criminal acts. This is one of the biggest reasons I oppose the WTO, NAFTA, etc. They are not only undemocratic but lawless.

[Robbien]

4. There are laws

but the problem is there is no one who is willing to enforce the laws.

Which is why right wingers and global corporatists made a big push these last seven years to make sure the DoJ was reorganized under their control.

[crikkett]

3. kick!!

[DavidMS]

5. If he has good backups (which he should)...

it doesn't do much damage to the plaintiffs, he lost at most a day or two to get new equipment and . If you have important data please keep it backed up. Even Microsoft bundles somthing almost decent with WINXP.

[Pastiche423]

6. If he's ready to hand in his final report at the end of January

it sounds like, indeed, he has backed up everything.