Washington: The Justice Department is conducting a criminal probe of a $6 billion reading initiative at the centre of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law, another blow to a programme besieged by allegations of financial conflicts of interest and cronyism, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The disclosure came as a congressional hearing revealed how people implementing the $1 billion-a-year Reading First programme made at least $1 million off textbooks and tests toward which the federal government steered states.
"That sounds like a criminal enterprise to me," said Representative George Miller, chairman of the House education committee, which held a five-hour investigative hearing.
"You don't get to override the law," he angrily told a panel of Reading First officials. "But the fact of the matter is that you did."
