David Safavian, the former Bush administration official and friend of Jack Abramoff, has been convicted for the second time on charges he lied to investigators about his relationship with the corrupt lobbyist.
A jury convicted him Friday on one count of obstructing justice and three counts of making false statements to federal investigators, according to the Associated Press.
Safavian accepted an extravagant golf trip to Scotland from Abramoff while Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration. Although an ethics officer gave Safavian approval to go on the trip, he failed to tell the ethics officer –Â and later Congressional investigators –Â that Abramoff had told Safavian he was interested in two GSA-owned properties that were up for sale.
He was previously convicted on similar charges in 2006, but that conviction was overturned by the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia in June on grounds that he was under no obligation to reveal his business dealings with Abramoff to the government while getting advice from an ethics officer.
