Former GSA official denies wrongdoing

WASHINGTON — Former Bush administration official David Safavian denied Friday that he tried to conceal from ethics officials and investigators the assistance he gave disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff about two federal properties.

On the stand in his defense in U.S. District Court, the former chief of staff of the General Services Administration (GSA) also replied "no, no, no" when his lawyer asked if he'd ever given Abramoff inside information on bidding.

Safavian did express regret over two e-mail messages he sent his ex-partner Abramoff about GSA's plan to redevelop the Old Post Office in Washington, a project Abramoff hoped to help a client obtain.

"It was not a brilliant move" to forward an internal government e-mail describing the opposition of another government official to GSA's plan and "in hindsight, it was probably not" appropriate for him to e-mail Abramoff later that "we're gonna have to roll this idiot," Safavian testified.

Within weeks of giving advice on the two GSA properties, Safavian joined a weeklong trip arranged by Abramoff to the famed St. Andrews golf course in Scotland and on to London. Safavian insisted he thought his $3,100 check to Abramoff paid all his costs, including chartered-jet airfare. Prosecutors say the trip cost more than $130,000 for the nine participants.

Prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg went painstakingly through some of the costs of a trip with $400 rounds of golf, $100 rounds of drinks and $500-a-night hotel rooms and asked if it never dawned on Safavian that he was undercharged until the trial.

"It never occurred to me to question" Abramoff's cost figure, Safavian replied.

Safavian said he proposed getting GSA Administrator Stephen Perry together with Abramoff several times, not to aid his friend's lobbying but because "Perry likes to golf" and "Abramoff enjoyed being in the company of political people."

Abramoff pleaded guilty this year to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy.