- A well-connected Republican lobbyist agreed yesterday
to give evidence against top politicians whom he allegedly bribed, in what
analysts predict may prove to be the biggest congressional scandal in American
history.
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- The lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty to engaging
in a conspiracy involving "corruption of public officials" as
well as fraud and tax evasion, after striking a deal with federal prosecutors
that is expected to lift the lid on a culture of corruption in Congress,
in which legislative favours are routinely exchanged for lucrative perks.
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- Politicians from both parties received money from Mr
Abramoff and his clients, but the scandal is likely to inflict most damage
on the Republicans and could ultimately threaten their hold on Congress.
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- One of the party's most powerful figures, Tom DeLay,
who was instrumental in orchestrating its victories in 2000, 2002 and 2004,
is at the centre of the investigation for his close financial ties to Mr
Abramoff. He is also facing charges in a separate case involving political
money-laundering in Texas and had to step down from his job as House majority
leader last year. A senior White House budget official, David Safavian,
has been arrested for failing to report gifts from the indicted lobbyist.
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- "This is potentially the biggest congressional scandal
in history," said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and the
head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog
organisation. "Abramoff knew everybody. He knows how Washington works."
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- The White House spokesman Scott McClellan was unable
to say yesterday whether George Bush had ever met Mr Abramoff, but he denounced
the lobbyist. "What he is reportedly acknowledged doing is unacceptable
and outrageous," he said. "If laws were broken, he must be held
to account for what he did."
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- Mr Abramoff was a central fixture in Washington political
life, wining and dining top politicians in his own restaurant, hosting
them in plush corporate boxes at sporting events, and flying them on all-expenses-paid
golf trips to Scotland.
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- The lobbyist and his partners also coordinated political
donations worth $1.7m (£975,000) to more than 200 members of Congress
on behalf of clients such as the Choctaw Indian tribe in Mississippi, the
US-administered Northern Mariana islands in the Pacific and Russian oil
magnates.
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- Legislation passed by Congress in recent years directly
benefited those clients and the justice department's ethics division is
now seeking to prove that those votes were bought.
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- "Words will not ever be able to express my sorrow
and my profound regret for all my actions and mistakes," Mr Abramoff
told the judge in a Washington courtroom. "I hope I can merit forgiveness
from the Almighty and those I've wronged or caused to suffer."
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- Mr Abramoff was also expected to plead guilty to fraud
today in a separate case in Miami, involving his purchase in 2000 of a
fleet of casino ships. The man he bought the fleet from, Konstantinos Boulis,
was shot dead a year later in the middle of a dispute over the sale.
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- Prosecutors are reported to be focusing on about 20 politicians
and their staff, including the biggest recipients of Mr Abramoff's largesse.
As well as Mr DeLay and Mr Safavian, they include Bob Ney, the Republican
head of the House administration committee known as "the mayor of
Capitol Hill" for his extensive influence, and Democratic senator
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. The three men have all denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Dorgan and several other members of Congress have returned political
donations received from Mr Abramoff and his clients, in a rush to distance
themselves from the man who was once a popular socialite.
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- Despite the involvement of some Democrats, Stanley Brand,
a former congressional lawyer, said Republicans were likely to feel the
brunt of any public backlash in the November congressional elections.
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- "The party in power always suffers," said Mr
Brand, who is now in private practice specialising in defending public
officials.
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- The scandal will also bring scrutiny of Mr DeLay's decade-long
bid to pack Washington lobbying firms with Republicans. The scheme, known
as the "K Street project" after the wide boulevard that houses
much of the industry, helped create lucrative jobs for party activists.
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- But Mr Brand doubted that the scrutiny would lead to
profound change.
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- "Everyone will get worked into a lather and then
they'll go back to what they've done for the past 200 years ... You're
not going to get money out of politics and you're not going to get influence
out of government."
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- Backstory
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- The Abramoff scandal began last year as a little-noticed
investigation into casinos on some Native American reservations. The Mississippi
Band of Choctaw Indians and other tribes complained to Senate investigators
that they had been paying millions of dollars to Washington lobbyists to
help protect their gambling income from taxation and competition but were
getting little in return.
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- The lobbyists in question were led by Jack Abramoff,
a Washington super-lobbyist who owned his own plush restaurant, Signatures,
for entertaining politicians, and Michael Scanlon, a former spokesman for
one of the Republican party's top power-brokers, Tom DeLay.
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- The inquiry uncovered a culture of influence-peddling
that infused Congress and tainted the White House, as first Mr Scanlon
and then Mr Abramoff decided to cooperate with the justice department.
As well as meals at Signatures, Mr Abramoff offered hospitality in comfortable
"sky-boxes" at sports events and golfing trips to Scotland, for
a chance to play at St Andrews.
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- One of the lucky golfers was Mr DeLay, who took his wife
and entourage on an Abramoff-financed trip to Scotland in 2000. He has
claimed it was a working visit, involving a meeting with Margaret Thatcher.
Baroness Thatcher's office has confirmed the meeting. Mr DeLay stepped
down as House majority leader in September after being charged in a separate
case involving political money-laundering in Texas.
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