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9-26-06, 8:51 am
WASHINGTON (PL).— Associates of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now in prison after being convicted of corruption, met many times with advisors to U.S. President George W. Bush, according to a September 21 article in The Washington Post.
According to the daily, these meetings were recorded in the White House visitor logs controlled by the Secret Service.
Republican Party activists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, political allies of Bush and longtime associates of Abramoff, visited the executive mansion more than 100 times.
The list also includes Neil Volz, assistant to Republican Robert W. Ney, the first to be convicted in the corruption scandal involving the former lobbyist.
Volz visited the White House 18 times for meetings with aides there, while Tom DeLay, former House of Representatives majority leader, did so 13 times.
To date, there has been an attempt to maintain distance between the executive mansion and the Abramoff scandal, despite the fact that he appears among the lists of contributors to President Bush’s electoral campaign.
Last January, Abramoff pleaded guilty to two of six corruption charges brought against him after reaching a controversial deal with prosecutors in an attempt to receive a lighter sentence.
For those crimes, he was sentenced in March to five years and 10 months inprisonment. The deal also provided that he would cooperate with the justice system in any federal investigation carried out in Washington involving legislators who benefited from his favors.
Well-known for his links to top Republican leaders, the former lobbyist admitted to being responsible for a case of fraud and corruption involving the purchase of Casinos SunCruz in 2000.
The scandal came to light more than three years ago, after it was discovered that Abramoff and his buddy Michael Scanlon charged Native American tribes $80 million to do lobbying benefiting their casinos.
Recently, Congressman Ney pleaded guilty in the Abramoff case, also after cutting a deal with prosecutors. Ney admitted to one count of conspiracy and another of false testimony.
From Granma
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