The rumor that former President Roh Moo-hyun kept 2 billion won in borrowed bank accounts is likely to be put to rest, as the prosecutors’ office has made a provisional conclusion that the late president had no such secret fund. The office summoned former National Police Commissioner Cho Hyun-oh on Monday for final questioning on his earlier remarks about the alleged fund.

In a 2010 lecture to police officers, Cho, then as chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, claimed Roh took his life in 2009 because bank accounts he held in other people’s names were found to contain 2 billion won.

In his earlier testimony to the prosecutors’ office, Cho said he received a report from an unidentified person that prosecutors, in their 2009 investigation, found 2 billion won in the bank accounts held by two secretaries to first lady Kwon Yang-sook. He said the money was Roh’s secret fund.

It was only natural for the public to take the remarks seriously as they were made by a top police officer. Now it appears that the amount of money was exaggerated.

Indeed, the prosecutors looked into the bank accounts, which reportedly contained deposits made with 20 checks from Kwon. But her secretaries were reportedly given 2 million won in checks to buy sundry items for use at the Blue House and that they made purchases with their own credit cards and deposited the checks into their accounts.

Cho has been equivocal about his remarks. In a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly, he offered an apology to the bereaved family for the remarks, and later told news media that he had better not refer to the issue again. But recently, he said he would have to talk about it if the family refused to drop libel charges against him.

The prosecutors’ office also made ill-considered remarks only to retract them. It jumped to the wrong conclusion when it recently found that amounts totaling tens of billions of won were deposited into and withdrawn from the accounts held by a businessman close to Roh’s brother. The prosecutors claimed the money was the former president’s secret fund, but later denied that the Roh family was involved in the transactions.

Now Cho will have to be held accountable for his remarks if the Roh family continues to press charges against him. He has no one else but himself to blame.