(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) An independent investigator discovered that the federal government may have made duplicate payments for grants it gave to the lab in Wuhan, China, through the National Institute of Health and the US Agency for International Development.
Diane Cutler is the independent investigator, according to CBS News. She has more than 20 years of experience investigating healthcare fraud and white-collar crime. She was hired by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
Cutler found evidence that the federal government made duplicate payments, via grants, immediately before the COVID “pandemic.”
“What I’ve found so far is evidence that points to double billing, potential theft of government funds,” she said. “It is concerning, especially since it involves dangerous pathogens and risky research.”
Cutler reported that she read more than 50,000 documents in her investigation. She said that the Feds may have duplicated payments for medical supplies, equipment, travel and salaries.
Marshall took this evidence to USAID and the internal investigative office of USAID. These organizations have launched investigations into the event.
However, a USAID spokesman refused to comment on the investigation, and a USAID inspector general spokesperson declined to comment “on the existence of a specific open investigation.”
The press office for NIH did not respond to CBS News’ questions.
CBS News claimed that anonymous sources alleged that “tens of millions of dollars” could have been paid and that anonymous sources “familiar with the grant records” reviewed their reporting and did not dispute it.
CBS News’ anonymous sources also said the internal investigation could take six months to conclude.
Marshall is now calling for a thorough investigation, according to Breitbart News.
“I think there’s 1.1 million reasons that American taxpayers should care,” he said. “You’ll have a plane crash and we want to find out why the plane crashes; we go to any lengths to do that. And the hope is we don’t have another plane crash for the same reason.”
Marshall told the New York Post that, “Americans deserve the truth, especially if our government had a hand in funding the creation of the coronavirus.”
“I am demanding transparency and accountability for the misuse of taxpayer funds,” he said. “This probe is a step in the right direction. We must follow the money.”
