Claims Ex-Navy Official Took Job-Hunting Trips : U.S. Indicts General Dynamics Officer

A former assistant secretary of the Navy was indicted Thursday on charges that he concealed the fact that he took job-hunting trips paid for by General Dynamics while he was still a government official.

The Justice Department said a two-count indictment was returned in federal court in Alexandria, Va., against George A. Sawyer, 55, who held his Navy post from June 23, 1981, until June 25, 1983. Five days later, he joined General Dynamics as an executive vice president in charge of the company’s land systems division.

The indictment charged that Sawyer “falsified, concealed and covered up the fact” that he had flown to St. Louis during March, 1983, and to Chicago in May, 1983, to be interviewed by General Dynamics executives about a possible job with the defense contractor.

The indictment further alleged that St. Louis-based General Dynamics paid Sawyer’s air fare for the interviews.

Federal law forbids a government official from negotiating for employment with a federal contractor over whom he has authority. Sawyer was in charge of shipbuilding and logistics for the Navy.

In a statement issued through his lawyer, Sawyer said: “The charges against me are baseless. I intend to defend against them vigorously and am confident that I will be vindicated.

“I am deeply distressed that the prosecutor has sought and obtained an indictment against me,” the statement added. “I can only assume that it is the result of the intense political pressures being brought to bear on the Justice Department to take some action against General Dynamics.”

Sawyer, who is also a General Dynamics director, said that he has asked the company for a leave of absence “so that I can devote my full attention and energies to this matter.”

The company issued a statement saying it was “very disappointed” by the indictment. Sawyer and the company have maintained that no negotiations about employment occurred on the trips.

Sawyer received an offer of employment from General Dynamics “contingent on the Navy’s issuance of a legal opinion declaring Sawyer free of any ethical violations in his relationship with the corporation. Such an opinion was issued on June 3, 1983, by the acting general counsel of the Navy,” the indictment noted.

But the indictment further alleged that, on June 24, 1983, Sawyer, “in executing and submitting to the Department of the Navy his final financial disclosure report, denied receiving any gifts or reimbursements of transportation expenses in excess of $250, when he had in fact received such gifts or reimbursements from General Dynamics.”

The maximum punishment is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.