The government of Ecuador had asked Manhattan federal court…to prevent Chevron from taking the 17-year-old case to arbitration under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty. U.S. courts had previously sent the litigation to be heard in Ecuador, where Chevron said…that it had uncovered a $3 million bribery plot linked to the case. A lawyer for the government said Thursday's ruling does not halt the litigation in the South American country…Chevron has complained of government interference in the case, in which indigenous communities accused Texaco, bought by Chevron in 2001, of damaging their health and the Amazon rain forest and causing river pollution while operating petroleum facilities in the region.