Prosecution nears end of case against Safavian

A General Services Administration ethics official and the agency's former general counsel testified Wednesday in the trial of David Safavian, former Office of Management and Budget procurement policy chief, as the government neared the end of presenting its case on his involvement with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Eugenia Ellison, a lawyer who administers GSA's ethics program, testified that she handled then-chief of staff Safavian's request for an ethics opinion in order to join Abramoff and others on a golfing trip to Scotland in 2002. Safavian is charged with lying in the information submitted for that clearance, and with obstructing two later investigations into the matter.

Ellison described how she had reached the decision to clear Safavian's participation based on his description of the outing hosted by Abramoff, a friend and former colleague, as a four-day golfing expedition in which Safavian would pay all costs associated with meals, hotels and greens fees. Airfare, Safavian indicated, was being provided by Abramoff on a private jet, and none of the eight people on the trip would be contributing to cover that cost.

Safavian also indicated that Abramoff had no business before GSA.

Ellison said she approved the gift of airfare for the trip because Abramoff was an old friend of Safavian's and because of Safavian's attestation that the lobbyist worked only on Capitol Hill, which together meant that Abramoff was not a "prohibited source" according to federal regulations.

In a barrage of questions from Justice Department lawyer Nathaniel Edmonds, Ellison indicated she had been unaware that Abramoff was at the time seeking to lease GSA-controlled land in White Oak, Md., for a school he had founded, that he had expressed interest in the GSA-controlled Old Post Office Pavilion in downtown Washington, D.C., and that he had sought to influence GSA policy regarding the consideration of Indian tribes under a classification of disadvantaged businesses.

Ellison said had she known those things at the time, they could have influenced the outcome of the ethics decision.

An official ethics decision, if based on a full and accurate disclosure of relevant facts by the requesting individual, provides a "safe harbor" protection for that person if a subsequent investigation shows that government regulations were not properly followed. Ellison indicated that agency ethics opinions cannot grant such immunity if a criminal infraction is found, but the Justice Department can take into consideration that professional ethical advice had been sought.

Raymond McKenna, GSA's general counsel and the person who formally issued the opinion researched and drafted by Ellison, testified that after the opinion had been issued, Safavian indicated in private conversation that he had decided to pay the cost of the airfare. Safavian eventually paid $3,100 for the trip, far short of his share of a trip estimated to total $140,000.

Questioned as to whether Abramoff's activities with respect to the Old Post Office would have been relevant to whether he was a "prohibited source" for gifts, McKenna said, "The legal advice would have been incomplete, at the very least," without that information.

Neither McKenna nor Ellison recalled a conversation with Safavian to probe for further details on the trip beyond what Safavian had initially provided in his written request for an opinion, but both said such a conversation would have been required based on questions that arose from his initial communication, and it was clear from the opinion ultimately issued that some such communication had taken place.

In questioning, Safavian's lawyer suggested that Ellison may have inadvertently added a short clause -- that Abramoff was not "seeking to do business" with GSA -- to Safavian's statements in the course of writing the ethics opinion. Some have interpreted this more expansive language as lending support to the prosecution's argument that Safavian misled federal and Senate investigators.

Wednesday's witnesses came on the heels of a Tuesday appearance by Neil Volz, former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio. Volz is a key Justice Department witness, having pleaded guilty to charges that he deprived the public of his honest services. He is cooperating in government investigations in hopes of reducing a possible five-year jail term.

Prosecutors intended to call two additional witnesses, investigators with the Senate and the GSA inspector general's office, to round out their case before Safavian's lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, begins her defense.