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The Serious Fraud Office has won a reprieve from abolition through its decision to investigate Act leader Rodney Hide's complaint over donations intended for New Zealand First.
Prime Minister Helen Clark last night announced that controversial legislation to abolish the office would be put on hold while the investigation proceeds.
With office director Grant Liddell saying he was unable to predict how long the investigation would take, his organisation stands to enjoy a long life if it survives until the election, since National opposes its abolition.
Mr Hide welcomed the stay of execution as good for the country.
He believed the office had demonstrated its independence from the Government and a preparedness "to base their decisions on the facts".
Although he acknowledged having been critical of the office in the past, he now believed it was "well worth having them ... I have to say in my interaction with them on [NZ First leader] Mr Peters' case, I found the investigators highly professional in their dealings with that.
"I had complete confidence in the investigators."
He hoped the office would be retained to continue inquiries such as into the treatment by troubled finance companies of elderly investors.
Mr Hide compared the fraud office favourably with the police.
Suzanne Edmonds, who set up a lobby group to support victims of finance company collapses, welcomed the office's reprieve but said it was disgraceful that the Government had planned to abolish it in the first place.
"I'm just having dinner thinking they are putting all this effort into investigating New Zealand First, but they have failed to put in many resources into investigating all these failed finance companies, and we believe most of them should be being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office."
