BOGOTA -- One of Ecuador’s most ambitious conservation efforts is getting dragged into one of the world’s largest environmental lawsuits.

When Ecuadorean officials announced last month that they had raised the $100 million needed this year to guarantee an innovative crude-for-conservation program, it sparked accusations of creative accounting and led to speculation about where the money was coming from.

At issue is a proposal to leave more than 900 million barrels worth of oil beneath Yasuní National Park if the international community will cover the revenue shortfall.

This week, the Huffington Post set off a firestorm by suggesting that Chevron was trying to duck an $18 billion judgment against it in Ecuador in exchange for funding the Yasuní-ITT initiative.

According to the article written by Amazon Watch activist Mitch Anderson, Chevron was willing to pay $500 million into the Yasuní Trust Fund and give the Ecuadorean government an equal amount for clean-up efforts. In exchange, it wanted the government to dismiss the lawsuit it’s facing for failing to properly remediate the oil fields left behind by its predecessor.

Ivonne Baki, the coordinator of the Yasuní-ITT program, said she has no relation “whatsoever” with Chevron and that the initiative had met its funding goals without anonymous donations, as the article suggested.

“She rejects the notion that she has had any type of contact or dialogue with supposed representatives of the oil company that resulted in a contribution to the fund,” her office said in a statement.

Her office also provided a breakdown of $108 million in donations and “concrete pledges” it has received. In addition to the $2.5 million already deposited, Baki’s office said it had firm pledges that included a $51 million debt-swap with Italy, $47 million in technical cooperation from Germany, and $3 million from a fundraiser held in Ecuador. But some doubt the German funds will come through.

Fueling the speculations is the amount of money in the United Nations Multi-Donor Trust Fund, which administers the Yasuní money. The fund shows only $2.1 million in deposits.

The Executive Coordinator of the fund, Bisrat Aklilu, said the Ecuadorean government had not transferred all of the donated funds, and the trust did not reflect mere pledges.

While the global economic downturn has hindered fundraising efforts, “everyone recognizes the importance of this,” Aklilu said. “Personally, I’m quite confident that the contributions will be forthcoming.”

While the UN has approached potential corporate donors, there has never been talk of a Chevron contribution, Aklilu said.

While the plaintiffs in the case say there is no indication the government seriously considered the oil company’s purported offer, they say they have documents and first-hand accounts that show Baki was shopping the idea around.

“Chevron and Baki think Ecuadorean officials are still running a banana republic government willing to sacrifice the rights of their own citizens for a small bribe,” the lead lawyer for the Ecuadoran plaintiffs, Pablo Fajardo, said in a statement. “Chevron just doesn’t get that it cannot bribe government officials.”

Chevron spokesman James Craig would not address the issue directly, but said the company “takes no pleasure in litigation and has tried to resolve this case in the past. However, it is difficult to negotiate with perpetrators of fraud.”

Chevron has long accused the plaintiffs and judges of colluding to shake down the company. On Tuesday, Chevron asked Ecuador’s prosecutor general to investigate allegations that Fajardo and other lawyers secretly wrote large sections of the $18 billion judgment, which was issued earlier this year and is pending appeal.

Fajardo called the move a “desperate” ploy by a company that is running out of legal options.

Yasuní, deep in Ecuador’s Amazon, is one of the most biologically rich spots on the planet and is home to some of the world’s last tribes living in voluntary isolation. It’s conservation has been a priority for Amazon Watch even as it has pursued the Chevron case.

“The Yasuní-ITT initiative and the lawsuit against Chevron are both precedent-setting issues with major implications for conservation, the oil industry, climate change, and corporate responsibility,” said Kevin Koenig, the Ecuador representative for Amazon Watch. “It is critical that they both proceed with integrity and transparency.”