There had been speculation in recent weeks that Correa, newly appointed chief of police, would take police Maj. Daniel Hanagami off the illegal campaign contributions case and re-assign him to his former position as head of HPD's Information Technology Division.

But in a joint news conference this morning, Correa and City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle announced that Hanagami will work exclusively on the campaign-contributions case and will do so with Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee, who specializes in white-collar corruption cases.

Correa and Carlisle said that the agreement will "speed up" the investigation and is the exact opposite of de-emphasizing the investigation as some had speculated. The probe, to date, has led to no-contest or guilty pleas from 24 city contractors or consultants, resulting in a minor jail sentence for one of them.

The investigation into illegal campaign contributions, chiefly to Mayor Jeremy Harris, has been under way for almost three years.

Hanagami had been in charge of HPD's Information Technology Division, but those duties will be turned over to Capt. John Thompson while Hanagami is on loan to the prosecutor's office, Correa said.

Carlisle would not speculate on how much longer the investigation would continue.

"The problem is that whenever we lift up one rock, we often find something else underneath," Carlisle said.

Hanagami, speaking last week before the agreement was official, said he has no problems with the agreement because it allows him additional time to focus on the investigation. Also, he said, he will continue to work out of his HPD office, where he has three rooms filled with documents related to the investigation that he constantly consults.