Telegraph | News | British lawyers linked to $1m payment for favours at US Congress

By Philip Sherwell in Washington and David Harrison in London
(Filed: 08/01/2006)

A British law firm is at the centre of the investigation into America's biggest influence-buying scandal in decades.

The London-based solicitors, James & Sarch, channelled $1 million (£565,000) into a conservative United States pressure group linked to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist.

The firm, which was dissolved in 2000, made the payment by a single cheque in June 1998 to the US Family Network, a now-defunct organisation that had close ties to the embattled Republican Congressman, Tom DeLay, and was largely funded by groups associated with Abramoff.

The revelations that the $1 million is thought to have originated from Russian oil and gas executives seeking to shape US legislation have fuelled pressure for a shake-up in the Republican leadership in Congress.

Abramoff, until recently the most prominent Republican operative in the lucrative lobbying industry, pleaded guilty last week to fraud and conspiracy charges after agreeing to work with federal prosecutors.

The deal has sent shock waves through Washington and is expected to lead to further charges against prominent political figures.

Christopher Geeslin, the then president of the US Family Network, has said that he was told by Ed Buckham, who was the group's organiser and who was Mr DeLay's former chief of staff, that the $1 million was paid on behalf of Russian energy entrepreneurs.

They were, Mr Buckham reportedly said, seeking Mr DeLay's support for legislation backing an International Monetary Fund bail-out of the Russian economy. The Congressman denies any wrongdoing. Mr Buckham did not return a request to comment.

The role of James & Sarch in the transfer of funds is believed to have been handled largely by its former partner, David Sarch, who died aged 57 in May 1998, a month before the payment was made.

The $1 million payment to a small advocacy group from a foreign source, although not illegal, is "extremely unusual" and "would raise several red flags" for investigators, according to Marcus Owens, a senior former US Internal Revenue Service official.

The Law Society in London said it had no knowledge of the payment. "It is a large amount and would certainly raise eyebrows and cause questions to be asked," a spokesman said.

Mr Sarch became a solicitor in 1963 and was a senior partner at James & Sarch from at least 1970.

"It was not a firm that had come to our attention or given us any cause for concern," the Law Society spokesman added.

The list of contributors to the US Family Network, which was obtained from tax records by The Washington Post, is understood to have been studied by federal prosecutors investigating how Abramoff sought to dispense favours to influence votes in Congress.

The payment through James & Sarch is the biggest single entry on the network's donor list. The original source of the donation is not recorded.

Mr DeLay, Mr Buckham and Mr Abramoff met Russian gas and oil entrepreneurs before and after the payment. But the Congressman's spokesman insisted that he made decisions only "based on good policy and what is best for his constituents and the country".

Philip McGuirk, a former partner in James & Sarch, declined to answer any questions when contacted by the Sunday Telegraph.

Mr Sarch's previous work reveals a link to the Abramoff circle. In the early 1990s he worked on a case with Julius Kaplan, a well-known Washington lawyer and lobbyist who received payments from a firm that helped organise Mr DeLay's visit to Moscow in 1997.

Other contributors to the US Family Network included textile owners from the Pacific island chain of the Marianas and the Choctaw tribe of Native Americans. Mr DeLay, who was charged with money laundering in an unrelated case last year, spoke out in favour of both groups during legislative battles.

He denies the money-laundering charges and insists that his speeches were never influenced by contributions from interested parties. There is no suggestion that he gained personal benefit from his links to the group.

Mr Abramoff, 46, was at the forefront of the campaign by Republican activists to take over Washington's powerful lobbying industry in the 1990s.

From his position in Congress, Mr DeLay was a strong supporter of this so-called "K St project" - named after the street that is home to lobbying firms. The number of registered lobbyists has more than doubled in the past five years to nearly 35,000.

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