The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday suspended all federal investments for Peter Daszak, president of the nonprofit research organization EcoHealth Alliance, for violating federal grant protocols.
The announcement comes a week after HHS immediately suspended all investments for EcoHealth for misleading government agencies about its taxpayer-funded research activities at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, which some Republicans may have possibly been the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The HHS suspension and removal officer wrote in the memorandum of action on the matter that the evidence against Daszak is sufficient to promptly suspend him and initiate removal proceedings, and that this action is “necessary in the public interest. “
“The NIH’s conclusion that the studies on WIV likely violated NIH’s protocols related to biosafety is indisputable,” reads the referral memorandum for Daszak’s case.
Daszak is listed as the principal investigator of a grant to examine bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, funded through the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. WIV, the sub-beneficiary, receives a budget from EcoHealth to conduct experiments in China. .
Under the terms of the grant, Daszak will report on potentially harmful studies being conducted at the WIV, adding the immediate spread of novel chimeric coronaviruses that could potentially cause a fatal public health crisis.
When the NIH asked for lab notebooks and basic knowledge that might prove that the experiments conducted at the WIV were not dangerous, Daszak was unable to provide the documentation.
“The data on the record established that the EHA and Dr. Daszak failed to adequately monitor the WIV’s compliance, and thus the EHA’s own compliance, with the terms and situations of [the grant],” the memorandum of reference to action reads.
An EcoHealth spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that they intend to “prove that the exclusion is warranted in this case. “
“The proposed exclusionary measures endorsing EcoHealth Alliance and Dr. Daszak are based on false assumptions, misrepresentations, misunderstandings about the science involved, and selective use of evidence,” the spokesperson said. “It is ironic and unfortunate that EcoHealth Alliance is being unfairly persecuted at a time when our studies on emerging pathogens are more important than ever and human infection pathways are once again a growing cause of foreign concern.
The moves taken through HHS in opposition to WASH and Daszak come weeks after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic exposed evidence that the NIH’s grant budget for the WIV was poorly overseen through the EH.
“The non-public exclusion of EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak means that he will never again receive a single penny from American taxpayers and will never again have the opportunity to create a new, untrustworthy organization,” said Special Subcommittee Chairman Brad. Wenstrup (R-OH) in a Wednesday morning press release.
At Daszak’s public hearing on May 1, Democrats and Republicans on the subcommittee grilled the prominent scientist for about four straight hours of intense questioning, with supporters on both sides ratcheting up the pressure.
While there are sharp divisions within the subcommittee on whether experimentation at the WIV is causing the COVID-19 pandemic, there is strong bipartisan agreement regarding Daszak and the EHA’s alleged misconduct regarding the WIV grant.
HHS will be subject to a formal exclusion procedure for Daszak, which will consist of a long-term ban from receiving federal funding from any government agency. According to the General Services Administration, it is a number one public mechanism aimed at the federal government from fraud, waste and abuse avoiding “doing business with unaccountable actors. “
The disqualification only applies for a period of three years, but could be extended due to aggravating circumstances.
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“Dr. Daszak’s impending exclusion does not protect him from his duty to the American people,” Wenstrup said. “The subcommittee intends to hold Dr. Daszak accountable for any dishonesty and reminds him that this exclusion resolution does not prevent him from generating all notable actions. documents and answering all questions from this congressional body. “
The Republican subcommittee earlier this month called for the Justice Department to investigate Daszak under criminal law for knowingly making false statements to offload the government’s budget and misleading the U. S. government through fraud.