Official, Abramoff associate arrested

David Hossein Safavian, the Bush administration’s top federal procurement officer in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was arrested yesterday based on a three-count criminal complaint filed in federal court, according to a Justice Department statement.

The government alleges that Safavian, as chief of staff at the General Services Administration (GSA), helped an unnamed lobbyist acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C.

Sources say the lobbyist is likely Jack Abramoff, who has been indicted by a grand jury in Florida. Safavian and Abramoff worked together at Preston, Gates and the two traveled with Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and others on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002.