Rep. Chip Roy has asked the formed director of the University of Texas Medical Branch why he was in a secretive agreement with China.

From The Epoch Times. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has accused Dr. James LeDuc, the former director of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), of violating federal and state law in an agreement LeDuc signed with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, under which the facilities agreed to destroy any documents related to their joint research upon the request of the other….

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He wrote that one document signed between UTMB and the WIV “is particularly concerning.”

That document, a “Memorandum of Understanding,” contained a so-called memory-hole provision (pdf).

“The confidentiality obligation shall be applicable throughout the duration of the [Memorandum of Understanding] and after it has been terminated,” the provision reads. “The party is entitled to ask the other to destroy and/or return the secret files, materials and equipment without any backups.”

In other words, under the terms of the agreement, either party involved in the agreement could demand that all files related to the joint research be destroyed. This agreement violates not only National Institutes of Health policy, but is also in contravention of state and federal laws requiring the retention of records, Roy said.

“The November 2016 and October 2017 National Institutes of Health Grants Policy Statement requires recipients to ‘retain financial and programmatic records supporting documents, statistical records, and all records that are required by the terms of the grant….’

“Further, it raises serious concerns that a prominent recipient of federal taxpayer dollars would enter into an agreement with any foreign entity—but especially an adversary—with such a glaring ‘memory hole’ provision that authorizes research materials and files to be destroyed upon request….”

He also noted that even before COVID-19 came to U.S. shores, the WIV had scrubbed its largest database of viral sequences in September 2019, a few months before COVID-19 was identified in public. This fact “raises serious questions about WIV’s intent to participate in a fair research data exchange with the [United States]….”

Roy then laid out a litany of questions, including whether LeDuc destroyed any files consonant with the agreement, whether the agreement was later modified, whether UTMB staff thought the agreement was in accordance with the law, and whether UTMB entered similar agreements with China or other countries, among other inquiries….

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(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Getty Images)