Abramoff helped arrange Bush meeting for Malaysian leader: report - Yahoo! News

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to fraud and corruption charges, may have helped arrange a 2002 meeting between President George W. Bush and then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, a US newspaper reported.

The report printed in The Los Angeles Times comes after the White House has repeatedly denied it had dealings with Abramoff, who is charged with defrauding American Indian tribes that sought his services in establishing their gambling operations and influence peddling in the US Congress.

Mahathir Mohamad had been chastised by the Clinton administration for repeated anti-Semitic statements and for jailing political opponents and thought a meeting with Bush would help improve his image, The Times said.

Citing an unnamed witness, the newspaper said Abramoff had contacted presidential advisor Karl Rove on at least four occasions in a bid to arrange a meeting.

Finally, the former associate said, Rove's office called to tell Abramoff that the Malaysian leader soon would be getting an official White House invitation, according to the report.

In May 2002, Mahathir met with Bush in the Oval Office and his photograph with the president was beamed around the world.

The paper said Abramoff received 1.2 million dollars from the Malaysian government for his lobbying services in 2001 and 2002, and documents obtained by Senate investigators appear to confirm at least 900,000 dollars of that amount.

It is not clear how central Abramoff was in arranging the Oval Office session, The Times pointed out. The White House says the meeting was arranged through normal channels.

Last month, Abramoff pleaded guilty to improperly influencing members of Congress and their aides by offering foreign travel and other benefits and later seeking favors from some of them.

He often routed lobbying fees through nonprofit organizations to evade taxes or hide the sources of the funds, the paper said.

The Malaysian payments were made to the American International Center, a bogus think tank that an Abramoff partner, Michael Scanlon, set up at a Delaware beach house, according to the report.

Abramoff and Scanlon have admitted using the center to collect millions from their lobbying clients.

By routing the money in that way, Abramoff identified his client on federal lobbying disclosure forms as the Delaware-based center and avoided having to register with the Justice Department as an agent of a foreign government, The Times said.