April 2, 2013 10:36 AM

By CHRIS DICKERSON

AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office is examining spending by the fundraising arm of a state agency already under watch.

Abbott

According to reports, Abbott’s office has asked the Texas Cancer Coalition, which formerly was known as the CPRIT Foundation, to stop spending until a probe of its finances and its re-formation are complete.

The CPRIT Foundation was the nonprofit fundraising arm of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which is being investigated for possible problems in its grant making. The foundation raised money for the institute and supplemented salaries of its executives.

The nonprofit reorganized last month under the new name and said it no longer would supplement the salaries.

In a letter to the nonprofit, Assistant Deputy Attorney General G. David Whitley wrote that the office is “proceeding with its own formation and asserting ownership over CPRIT Foundation funds, in the absence of State authorization, necessarily raises substantial questions.”