By Kristin Jensen
May 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government's probe of influence peddling linked to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, based largely on a trail of e-mails, gets its first courtroom test this week in the case of former White House official David Safavian.
Safavian, 38, goes on trial in a Washington courtroom on charges he concealed Abramoff's interest in government business when seeking permission to accept airfare for a Scotland golf trip from the lobbyist in 2002. Safavian is also accused of obstructing inquiries into the matter. He pleaded not guilty.
Abramoff has pled guilty to conspiracy to corrupt lawmakers and is cooperating with prosecutors. The Justice Department has also secured guilty pleas from three former congressional aides who worked for Republican Representatives Tom DeLay of Texas and Bob Ney of Ohio.
``This may be one of the rare times where the Justice Department has to lay out its whole case publicly,'' said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who runs the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. ``It may be the only one where they ever go to trial.''
Abramoff, 47, promises to figure prominently in the trial though he may not actually testify. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman granted a request by prosecutors Peter Zeidenberg and Nathaniel Edmonds to permit hundreds of e-mails written or received by Abramoff to be admitted as evidence. The judge excluded just 14 of the government's exhibits.
By relying on e-mails and not calling Abramoff to testify, prosecutors might be able to keep defense lawyer Barbara Van Gelder from painting him as an unreliable witness, former prosecutors said. That, in turn, would probably help the government win more guilty pleas in its corruption investigation.
`Golden Egg'
``He's the goose that lays the golden egg for prosecutors,'' said Greg Wallance, a former federal prosecutor who now works at the New York law firm Kaye Scholer. ``You don't want to put him on the block and give all the other defense attorneys for the targets and defendants a roadmap.''
Safavian is a former colleague of Abramoff's at the lobbying firm Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds in Washington. At the time of the golf trip, he was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, which oversees government property. He later became the top procurement officer in the White House Office of Management and Budget. He resigned in September.
Almost immediately after taking the GSA post, Safavian started receiving e-mails from Abramoff about government properties such as the Old Post Office building in Washington, according to government documents. Sprinkled throughout Abramoff's requests to Safavian for inside information were offers for tickets to sports events, meals at Abramoff's Signatures restaurant and talk about planning racquetball games.
``There's no conspiracy here. It's a friendship,'' Van Gelder said.
Ethics Office
At the heart of the government's case is an e-mail Safavian sent to the GSA ethics office in 2002 asking whether he could accept airfare for the golf trip. He identified Abramoff as a friend and lobbyist ``but one that has no business before GSA (he does all of his work on Capitol Hill).''
One of the main questions for the jury will be the meaning of ``business.'' Van Gelder contends that there were no false statements in Safavian's e-mail because Abramoff didn't have any contracts or bids pending with the GSA.
Prosecutors will try to convince the jury that Safavian was hiding the help he routinely gave to Abramoff. Friedman ruled that they can present evidence that Safavian told Abramoff in 2003 that units of Bermuda-based Tyco International Inc., then a client of Abramoff's, were about to be banned from receiving federal contracts.
Jury Selection
Jury selection begins today, and lawyers expect the trial to last about seven days. Prosecutors said they will probably call as a witness Neil Volz, 35, former chief of staff to Ney. Both Ney and Volz, who later went to work for Abramoff, were on the 2002 golf trip. Volz pleaded guilty on May 8 to attempting to corrupt public officials.
Court documents filed with plea agreements by Volz, Abramoff and two former DeLay aides, Michael Scanlon, 35, and Tony Rudy, 39, say Ney accepted ``things of value'' from Abramoff's team in return for official action. Ney and DeLay, who is resigning from Congress, have denied wrongdoing.
Van Gelder said she doesn't plan to call Ney to the witness stand. She told Friedman last week that she was having trouble getting some witnesses to respond to subpoenas because they feared they are targets in the larger Abramoff probe. She wouldn't give any details after the court hearing.
While Safavian's case differs from those of lawmakers who are under scrutiny, it will be closely watched by anyone who might be connected to the government's investigation, former prosecutors said. A government defeat could complicate negotiations for other guilty pleas, said Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor.
``An acquittal will surely be dispiriting to the prosecutors pursuing other targets,'' Gillers said.
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