An internal government watchdog is calling on the Energy Department’s loan office to halt its financing for energy projects, saying there are insufficient controls in place to prevent conflicts of interest.

In a letter last week, Inspector General Teri Donaldson called on the Loan Programs Office (LPO) to “put into abeyance all loan and loan guarantee packages” until it can ensure that all of its contractors “are complying with conflicts of interest regulations.”

Specifically, her office found that the office is “not collecting information about and tracking all parties involved in loan........

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