Former Bush administration official indicted in Abramoff probe News
Former Bush administration official indicted in Abramoff probe

[JURIST] President Bush's former top procurement official was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on five felony counts, including making false statements and obstructing investigations into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The charges against David Safavian relate to an investigation [JURIST report] by the Senate and executive branch into whether he assisted Abramoff in his attempts to take over property near Washington, DC, which was controlled by the General Services Administration (GSA) [official website] during the time that Safavian was chief of staff at the GSA. The investigation examined an August 2002 golf trip to Scotland that Safavian took with Abramoff, and the indictment alleges that Safavian concealed the fact that he was helping Abramoff deal with the GSA and that Abramoff had done business with the GSA prior to the trip. After Safavian's tenure at the GSA, he became the government's top procurement officer in the Office of Management and Budget [official website], but resigned three days before his arrest last month on related charges. If convicted, Safavian faces a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison for each of the five counts. AP has more.