Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other state leaders said Tuesday that grant making by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas should be suspended amid a probe of the state agency and an affiliated nonprofit group, The Texas Tribune and Bloomberg write.

In a letter to the institute’s board, Mr. Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Joe Straus called on the agency, which has awarded more than $800-million since 2009, to cooperate with state- and county-level investigations into whether some of its grants were tainted by conflicts of interest.

Authorities said last week that the probe had been expanded to include the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Foundation, which provides financial support for the agency, including supplementing the salaries of its two top executives.