Changes

Until Safavian's arrest on September 19, 2005, for [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091901859.html making] "repeated false statements to government officials and investigators about a golf trip" to Scotland he took in 2002 with [[Jack Abramoff]], the connection between Abramoff's corruption and his [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/09/20/BL2005092000753_pf.html connections] to the [[Bush administration]] had been "relatively weak." [http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/5299.html]

The new five-count felony indictiment covers the period May 16, 2002, until January 2004, when Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration. Safavian has been charged with "obstructing a GSA proceeding, obstructing a U.S. Senate proceeding, and making false statements, Assistant Attorney General [[Alice S. Fisher]] of the Criminal Division announced." "Each count carries a potential top penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine." [http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=54613][http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/05/AR2005100501640.html]