We hope that this inquiry will expose the truth behind a raft of questionable project approvals.
The case began, Mr. Jordan said, with a tip from two Texas brothers who hoped to negotiate a reduction in prison terms for themselves by providing information about Mr. Edwards's alleged involvement in a questionable prison project.
While most of the criticism has cast a spotlight on questionable projects like studies on the mating habits of crabs or construction of an indoor rainforest in Iowa, local officials say a vast majority of the work financed with earmarks related to roads or sewers.
Many dismissed it as a marginal program for questionable projects that couldn't get financing any other way.
In June, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma released a list of 100 "questionable" projects in development, valued at $5.5 billion.
"This is spending gone wild on questionable projects at a time when we should be prioritizing maintaining our existing infrastructure and transit," said report co-author Bruce Speight.
Separately, in 2009 the E.U.'s anti-fraud unit, Olaf, reported 4,931 "irregularities" in these funds, accounting for €1.22 billion — an increase of 109 percent in the cost of questionable projects since 2008.
This study attracted negative attention this year from Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who listed it as one of the "questionable" projects financed by the National Science Foundation in a report challenging the foundation's budget for the social sciences.
"I am convinced that one of the lessons of the last three years is probably that the luxury poles are still, maybe more than before, questionable projects," said Armando Branchini, managing director of InterCorporate, a luxury goods consulting firm in Milan.
