Taxpayers have already paid tens of thousands of dollars to defend Winston Peters' legal action over the alleged leaking of his superannuation overpayments, and it's still early days.
The deputy prime minister paid the money back, but is suing his political rivals, alleging they leaked his superannuation details to media during the election campaign.
"It's tawdry, it's dirty, it's filthy and they should not succeed on that," Mr Peters said in 2017.
He's seeking damages from numerous parties, including the State Services Commissioner, the Social Development boss and the Attorney-General.
Now 1 NEWS can reveal the government's legal service, Crown Law, has already billed these government agencies more than $20,000 for its work.
Act Party leader David Seymour says $20,000 is just the start.
"I predict it will cost the New Zealand taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said.
Experts say that each day the case continues the costs will continue to mount. They say that if it goes to trial taxpayers could be paying tens of thousands of dollars a day.
So just how much will it cost?
It's sub-judice and he can't make any comment about it, Mr Peters said.
Asked by reporters if it's hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said: "I'm not going to imperil this case by breaking the law and I hope you guys don't."
Taxpayers have coughed up another $20,000 for the initial legal costs of former ministers Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley who Mr Peters is pursuing too.
It's up to Cabinet to decide how much more of the National MPs' costs it'll cover, and National leader Simon Bridges has given his view.
"When ministers act as ministers their costs in legal cases, that can range from the legitimate through the very vexatious, are paid for by the Crown," Mr Bridges said.
Attorney-General David Parker said: "I wouldn't be surprised if they made an application to the Crown for further covering their costs."
Taxpayers could end up paying Mr Peters hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages too.
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