The Sung Woan-jong bribery scandal has exposed many dark sides of Korean society ― pervasive corrupt links between politics and business, elections being financed by illicit money, lack of strict ethics among politicians and senior government officials, and rampant influence-peddling by people in or close to power, including relatives of the president.

Casting a darker cloud on this gloomy situation is the prosecution, the nation’s top law-enforcement authority, which has again failed to shake off its bad reputation for being a paper tiger when it deals with cases involving the president and the government of the day.

The prosecution announced the outcome of its investigation into the Sung scandal Thursday, 84 days after Sung, a construction tycoon who was once a member of the National Assembly, took his own life after alleging that he gave illicit political funds to politicians and government officials.

As expected ― in fact, senior prosecutors had already been leaking to the press that the announcement would contain few big things ― the prosecution said it was indicting only two of the eight politicians and officials pinpointed by Sung.

Former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo was charged with receiving 30 million won from Sung in 2013 and South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Hong Joon-pyo was charged with taking 100 million won in 2011. Prosecutors, as they had indicated, did not seek to detain them.

More disturbing is that prosecutors dropped charges against all the remaining six mentioned by Sung. The announcement said the statute of limitations has expired ― in the case of former Blue House chief of staff Kim Ki-choon who was suspected of receiving $100,000 in 2006 ― or prosecutors could not find evidence to proceed with charges.

The announcement would have been a little more convincing had prosecutors ― as they usually do with other cases ― summoned all of them for questioning and track down their financial accounts ― the quintessential step in delving into graft cases.

Without providing specific reasons, prosecutors summoned only Lee Wan-koo, Gov. Hong and Rep. Hong Moon-jong of the ruling Saenuri Party, and questioned the other five through a written questionnaires.

Sung, the former chairman of Keangnam Enterprises, claimed he gave Hong Moon-jong 200 million won to help with President Park’s election campaign in 2012. He claimed that he gave money to two other key managers of Park’s presidential campaign ― Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo.

Sung also alleged that he gave Huh Tae-yeol, once Blue House chief of staff, 700 million won during the 2007 presidential nomination race, in which Park lost to Lee Myung-bak.

These allegations, backed by Sung’s remarks that included specific dates and places for deliveries of money and his diaries and telephone records showing close relationships with the politicians, should be enough to launch a probe into Park’s campaign funds. But they are not, at least in the eyes of this prosecution, which always looks to the Blue House and the incumbent political power.

Instead of fulfilling its promise to “not allow any sanctuary” in probing the Sung scandal, the prosecution has been very faithful in following Park’s call for probing why Sung was granted a presidential pardon twice during the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Many thought that the president was trying to divert public attention away from suspicions about her own election funds.

The announcement said Sung was granted the amnesties with the help of the late Roh’s elder brother, who had already done jail time for other wrongdoings. Sung allegedly gave Roh Geon-pyeong 30 million won in 2005 and 500 million won in 2007. Roh’s attorney called the announcement “novel.”

All things considered, the probe merely consolidated the public belief that the prosecution finds only those with no money or power guilty and bends its authority before the incumbent government. There is no reason whatsoever to delay the push for the appointment of a special prosecutor.