The meeting took place as Malaysian and U.S. officials were discussing that nation's participation in the post-Sept. 11 campaign against terrorism. Malaysia is a heavily Muslim country.
"At the time [Mahathir] was Asia's longest-serving prime minister and an influential Islamic leader," Healy said. "The president met with him to discuss Malaysia's role in the war on terrorism."
Healy said Rove considered Abramoff a "casual acquaintance."
White House officials said Ralston's hiring had nothing to do with her prior association with Abramoff. Healy said she was a "valued member of the White House team."
Although White House officials have taken pains to distance Bush and his aides from Abramoff, hoping to shield the president from the scandal's political fallout, former associates say Abramoff often bragged of his ties to the highest levels of the administration.
One lobbyist recalls Abramoff's frequent refrain when confronting important legislative issues: "I'll call Karl on that."
The Malaysian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment on Abramoff's work.
Bills from the American International Center to the Malaysian Embassy have been turned over to a Senate committee investigating Abramoff's representation of Indian tribes, which he has admitted to defrauding.
Lobbying records show that Abramoff's firm, Greenberg Traurig, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the center but did not disclose that the funds originated with the government of Malaysia.
According to one of Abramoff's former associates, Abramoff said he did not need to disclose Malaysia as a client on federal lobbying disclosure forms -- or to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department -- because the money had come from the American International Center.
Abramoff's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, declined to comment on any aspect of Abramoff's work for Malaysia.
The failure of Abramoff and his colleagues at Greenberg Traurig to register as foreign agents was initially a topic of interest to the Justice Department, which is investigating Abramoff's contacts with lawmakers and executive branch officials as part of an ongoing fraud and bribery case. Abramoff has pleaded guilty in that case and is helping federal prosecutors. But a person familiar with that inquiry said the issue had not been pursued recently, perhaps because the law had many loopholes.
