After urgings from this and other media outlets, Treasury on Thursday released more than 200 documents made up of thousands of pages of emails, advice and recommendations.
The Government has consistently said it received no offers for SCF that were worth considering because all were apparently tied to the Government providing some sort of support in a "good bank-bad bank" scenario.
Instead of providing proof the offers were unacceptable, the names and offers were blanked out of the documents.
Journalists had to rely instead on previously private and confidential reports to piece together what little detail was available.
Thousands of pages, probably hundreds of hours of research, and all for not much.
The Government expects to lose about $1.1 billion from the bail-out of SCF, after assets have been sold, and still it prevaricates.
Timaru businessman Allan Hubbard and out-of-pocket investors in entities run by Mr Hubbard face a long winter as the investigation by the Serious Fraud Office drags on.
This is the time when questions need to be asked about why the investigation is dragging on beyond what many would consider a reasonable length of time.
There is a need to take reasonable care and build a proper case if the SFO is serious about taking on Mr Hubbard and his wife. But surely, a year is long enough.
There are two investigations under way by the SFO - one into SCF and one into Aorangi Securities. There is no indication the investigations will finish any time soon.
Regarding Aorangi, the latest details on the SFO website are dated March 2011 and say there are some areas where further investigation is required before a fully informed decision can be made as to whether a prosecution should be started.
The latest details on SCF are from October last year. They say, after the collection of initial further information, the investigation was upgraded to a Part II investigation.
Media reports yesterday suggested the legal bill for Mr Hubbard is likely have already exceeded $2.5 million and it took a visit to the High Court at Wellington last month by his legal representatives to try to get funds released from the statutory managers to pay the bill.
Some of the delay has been caused by Mr Hubbard telling investigators he did not have legal representation so he could not talk to them.
Even so, the prospect is real of the investigations dragging on throughout winter. Contrast this with the Securities Exchange Commission, in the United States, which grabs an issue and squeezes early and hard to see what emerges.
New Zealand is taking far too cautious an approach to these cases. Look how long it is taking failed finance company directors to get to court.
The long drawn-out process could come back to bite National when it campaigns in the South. Voters in the South will quite rightly ask National MPs for their answer.
Finance Minister Bill English (Clutha-Southland), Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean and Rangitata MP Jo Goodhew cover the majority of the area where disaffected investors reside.
The tragedy in all of this is that many investors who trusted Mr Hubbard with their savings are elderly. The Government started the process. It must, even behind the scenes, step up and get the mess sorted as soon as possible.
