Exxon Mobil Says Indonesian President May Be Witness
Bloomberg.com
7/27/2009
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest oil company, may seek to question Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a witness in its defense against a human rights-abuse lawsuit.
Yudhoyono, a retired general, was Indonesia’s minister of mining and energy during the 1999-2001 period in which villagers in Aceh province claim they were abused by security forces employed by the company, Alex Oh, a lawyer for Exxon, said.
“His conduct will be squarely at issue in this case,” Oh said at a hearing before Chief District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington today. She asked the judge to dismiss the suit on separation-of-power grounds because seeking testimony from Yudhoyono and others may interfere with U.S. foreign policy.
Eleven Indonesian villagers sued in 2001, claiming security forces working for Irving, Texas-based Exxon committed murder, torture and rape in Aceh, where the company operates a government-owned oil and natural gas field and a pipeline.
Exxon, which denies the allegations, lost a motion to dismiss the lawsuit last August when another federal judge ruled that there is evidence that Indonesian soldiers under contract with the company committed atrocities.
If Lamberth rejects the company’s latest motion to dismiss, the plan for the next round of discovery, including testimony from witnesses in Indonesia, should be submitted to the State Department for review before he approves it, Oh said.
Lamberth declined to say when he may rule.
State Review
Agnieszka Fryszman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said she didn’t see a need for an agency review of the plan. The suit is backed by the International Labor Rights Fund, a Washington- based advocacy group.
“The State Department has never objected” to the litigation, Fryszman said. Testimony from witnesses from Indonesia would be “very narrow” and could be conducted outside the country in neighboring Singapore, she said.
Ian Kelly, a State Department spokesman, didn’t return a telephone call and e-mail message seeking comment.
The State Department did urge a judge to dismiss the suit in 2002, saying it would violate Indonesia’s sovereignty and might harm the war on terror. The judge ruled in 2006 that the case could proceed under state law, dismissing claims under the federal Alien Torts Claims and Torture Victims Protection acts. The U.S. Supreme Court last year refused to intervene.
Yudhoyono, 59, was re-elected to a second five-year term on July 8, partly because of his perceived ability to contain terrorism. The resources-rich nation of 248 million people has experienced terrorist attacks blamed on a group linked to al- Qaeda, including the July 17 bombings of two U.S.-run luxury hotels in Jakarta.
Exxon shares today rose 46 cents to $72.75 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have declined 8.9 percent this year.
The case is Doe v. Exxon Mobil, 01-1357, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).