US taxpayers may have been billed twice for coronavirus research grants in Wuhan feared to have sparked the pandemic, according to a damning investigation.
Diane Cutler, former federal investigator for the House Energy and Trade Committee, found evidence pointing to the “potential theft” of tens of millions of government funds.
The money was spent on medical supplies, equipment costs and salaries at the Wuhan labs, which have been at the heart of questions about the origin of Covid.
The “high-risk research” was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Ms Cutler, who said she reviewed 50,000 documents on the matter, told CBS News, “What I’ve found so far is evidence pointing to double billing and possible theft of government funds.”
The US government may have double-paid for things like medical supplies, equipment, travel, and salaries at the Wuhan lab
Documents suggest the US government’s Wuhan Institute of Virology double-billed its experiments
“It’s worrying, especially since it involves dangerous pathogens and risky research.”
The US government previously awarded a $3.7 million research grant to the Wuhan biosafety level 4 laboratory.
The NIH was slammed by an official watchdog earlier this year for failing to keep tabs on US-sponsored virus experiments in China.
Congressional hearings on the origins of Covid-19 have brought the lab leak theory back to the fore after it was dismissed as a conspiracy theory by leading scientists.
The FBI and Department of Energy recently stated that an accidental lab leak from the lab was plausible.
Ms Cutler reviewed US government grants supporting coronavirus-related research in China in the run-up to the pandemic.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall hired Ms. Cutler and presented her records to USAID and its internal watchdog, which began their own investigation.
Ms Cutler added that the full investigation could take up to six months.
Sources told CBS News the overpayments could be worth tens of millions of dollars.
has reached out to USAID for comment.
The revelation has questioned how closely the government has been monitoring research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) lab.
Last week, the nonprofit at the center of Covid lab leak issues doubled down on its claim it was just a “coincidence” that the virus emerged in the city where it had funded risky research.
The New York City-based EcoHealth Alliance defended its ties to the Wuhan facility after Congress heard damning statements from top scientists pointing to mounting evidence the virus was man-made.
EcoHealth – created by the controversial scientist and friend of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Peter Daszak, who is headed – funneled millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the lab to fund dangerous coronavirus research before the pandemic hit.
In a reactive statement released while the explosive hearing was still taking place, the nonprofit said: “[The] Even “strongest evidence” for laboratory origin does not stand up to scrutiny.’
EcoHealth gave $3.3 million from the NIH to the WIV to conduct risky research on bat coronaviruses before the pandemic hit.
During this time, Dr. Fauci the NIAID – part of the NIH.
In late 2019, the virus that would eventually spark a global pandemic emerged in Wuhan, with early cases linked to a fish market just eight miles from the WIV.
dr Fauci has repeatedly said he is “open minded” about the origins of the pandemic.
dr Peter Daszak (left), President of the EcoHealth Alliance, pictured with Dr. Anthony Fauci (right)
Top scientific advisers told Congress last week there was mounting evidence Covid had leaked from the Wuhan lab, blaming Dr. Anthony Fauci for trying to cover up the claims because they didn’t fit his narrative.
Experts, including a former Biden staffer and Donald Trump’s CDC director, testified to the House subcommittee investigating Covid that taxpayer-funded gain-of-function likely caused the virus, which originated at the Chinese facility.
dr Jamie Metzl, a self-proclaimed Democrat who worked for President Biden when he was in the Senate, said he prefers the lab leak theory because “the Chinese government has done everything in its power” to block investigations.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan also tore Dr. Anthony Fauci for “trying to cover his butt” over the lab leak claims, and Trump’s CDC director Robert Redfield claimed the Biden Covid adviser ignored his concerns because “they wanted a single narrative and I wanted one.” had different point of view.’