Ex-procurement official eyes Abramoff data

By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- The former top procurement official in the Bush administration sought a wide range of documents Monday from the criminal investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Attorneys for David Safavian, who is under indictment on five counts of lying and obstruction of justice, claimed he was targeted only to get at Abramoff.

"This is a rigged set-up," said Safavian lawyer Barbara Van Gelder.

Safavian is accused of concealing from federal investigators that Abramoff was seeking to do business with the General Services Administration when Safavian joined the lobbyist on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002. At the time, Safavian was GSA's chief of staff.

A federal grand jury and a Senate committee are investigating Abramoff's lobbying activities.

At a hearing Monday in federal court, Safavian's lawyers asked for some e-mails between Abramoff and a number of his associates that mention Safavian, even if the messages weren't sent to the defendant. Safavian also wants handwritten notes of some FBI interviews in his case.

Van Gelder argued that the FBI devised a plan to secure Safavian's cooperation in the grand jury probe of Abramoff, congressmen and executive branch employees.

Investigators gave Safavian 24 hours to cooperate with the probe or face arrest and also placed him under surveillance, Van Gelder said, drawing little sympathy from U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman.

"Unless you can meet the very high threshold for selective or discriminatory prosecution, then so what?" replied Friedman, who made no immediate decision on the document requests.

Justice Department prosecutor Peter Zeindenberg called Safavian's efforts a fishing expedition.

Last year, Safavian moved to the Office of Management and Budget. He was the administration's top procurement official when he was arrested Sept. 19.

Safavian was given clearance to go on the trip to Scotland after telling GSA's ethics officer that Abramoff "has no business before GSA," according to the indictment in the case. On that trip Abramoff spent over $130,000 for nine people.

Around that time, Abramoff repeatedly contacted Safavian about the possibility of leasing the Old Post Office in downtown Washington for his clients and the possibility of acquiring or leasing part of 600 acres in Silver Spring, Md., managed by GSA.