As expected, investigations into incumbent prosecutors over the Jung Woon-ho bribery scandal is going nowhere. This raises a fundamental question -- whether it is legitimate to leave the investigation in the hands of the state prosecution.

Prosecutors indicted a key figure in the case – former vice minister-level prosecutor Hong Man-pyo -- on Monday on charges of accepting kickbacks from Jung and evading taxes.

The indictment accused Hong, already in custody, of receiving 300 million won ($251,000) for helping Jung, the jailed CEO of the cosmetics firm Nature Republic, get a lighter punishment for illegal overseas gambling.

Prosecutors said that Hong paid a visit to one of his former colleagues in the prosecution twice in relation for the investigation into Jung. Telephone records showed that Hong talked with the prosecutor about 20 times.

Such things must have played a part in the way the prosecution dealt with Jung.

If not, two previous investigations into Jung’s gambling charges would not have ended without indictment. It would also have been impossible for him to avoid an embezzlement charge that carried a heavier punishment when he was finally indicted last year. The high court’s decision to reduce Jung’s original one-year prison term to eight months had also been called into question.

Nevertheless, the prosecution apparently exonerated the incumbent prosecutor, saying that Hong’s efforts to seek favors for his client “ended up in failure” as the prosecutor contacted by Hong refused to listen to him. 

It is outrageous that the prosecution did not even question the prosecutor in person, only making queries through written questionnaires. Investigators would not do the same if they were dealing with someone outside their own organization.

As we have repeatedly pointed out, the central part of the scandal is whether Jung’s money and the personal connections of Hong and another defense counsel – former senior judge Choi Eun-jeong -- played any part when he sought to get a lighter punishment for his client.

Jung agreed to offer 5 billion won to Choi, which, in all regards, is too much for normal defense fees. Hong earned about 10 billion won in one year and now possesses 123 small office-apartments.

Few believe that their clients give them so much money simply for a legitimate defense in court. It is obvious that the state prosecution is not fulfilling its mission to find out who in the prosecution and the court helped people like Hong and Choi increase their wealth in such a short period of time. That job may well go to a special prosecutor.