WASHINGTON, Nov 10: Indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff asked the president of Gabon, Omar Bongo, for nine million dollars in 2003 to arrange a meeting with US President George Bush, according to a press report on Thursday.
The New York Times, citing newly disclosed documents, said Mr Abramoff directed his fees to a Maryland company now under federal scrutiny.
The African leader subsequently met Mr Bush in the Oval Office on May 26 Last year, 10 months after Mr Abramoff made the offer, the Times said.
However, the newspaper said ‘there has been no evidence in the public record that Mr Abramoff had any role in organizing the meeting or that he received any money or had a signed contract with Gabon’.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters Thursday that the meeting with Bush was organized in the “usual” way.
“It (the meeting) went through the usual staffing process for scheduling presidential meetings,” Mr McClellan said.
He pointed out that Mr Bush had met Omar Bongo in 2002, and he drew attention to the fact that the New York Times itself said there was no evidence of any contract or anything else in the public record to suggest there was a quid pro quo.
Asked whether his statement was a denial that Abramoff had played any role in the meeting, McClellan replied: “Yes.”
The newly released documents show that Mr Abramoff — who before his indictment was one of Washington’s most powerful lobbyists — and his colleagues drew up a draft contract that called for nine million dollars in fees to be paid to Grassroots Interactive, a small lobbying company which former colleagues say Abramoff controlled.—AFP
