1 Billion Won Paid in Rewards for Corruption and Public Interest Reporters in the Third Quarter of This Year…140 Million Won, the Largest Amount, Paid for Reporting on the Case of "Inflating Labor Costs"

- In the third quarter of this year, a total of 78 corruption and public interest reporters were paid rewards amounting to approximately 1.3 billion won

-The confirmed amount of revenues recovered to public institutions thanks to corruption and public interest reports reached 8.8 billion won

-The rewards payout was highest in the order of R&D, employment, healthcare, and welfare.

(29, October. 2024, ACRC)

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that it has paid approximately 1 billion and 30 million KRW in compensation to 78 whistleblowers for corruption and public interest reports in the third quarter of this year. The confirmed amount of revenue recovery for public institutions resulting from corruption and public interest reporting reached approximately 8.8 billion KRW.

The ACRC pays monetary rewards through the deliberations and resolutions of the Reward Deliberative Committee and the resolutions of the Plenary Committee.

In the third quarter of this year, among the 77 reports for which the ACRC decided to pay monetary rewards, the largest proportion was in the areas of welfare (28 cases, 36%); employment (17 cases, 22%); and research and development (10 cases, 13%).

Additionally, the fields with the highest reward amounts were research and development (approximately 380 million KRW, 37%); employment (approximately 240 million KRW, 23%); healthcare (approximately 155 million KRW, 15%); and welfare (approximately 130 million KRW, 13%).

In the field of research and development, there have been cases of fraudulent claims for government entrusted service project expenses through excessive labor cost allocations and misappropriation of research funding by reusing existing developed products.

Whistleblower A reported a company that fraudulently claimed government budget funds by excessively allocating and paying labor costs for employees participating in state-entrusted service projects and then recovering those funds to the accounts of the reported company, and received approximately 140 million KRW in reward.

Whistleblower B reported the head of a company that unlawfully obtained project funding by participating in a national technology development project using blueprints of previously created products and pretending to develop a new product, and received about 44 million KRW in reward.

In the employment sector, there were cases of fraudulent claims for the employment maintenance support fund by instructing employees on leave to work; fraudulent claims for the employment project support fund for non-working individuals; as well as misappropriations of substitute payment and unemployment benefits.

Whistleblower C reported the head of a company that fraudulently claimed employment maintenance support funds by instructing employees, who were on paid leave as part of employment maintenance measures, to continue working, and received approximately 45 million KRW in reward.

Whistleblower D reported the representative of a company who, despite not having any wage arrears, had employees apply for substitute payment* and then misappropriated some of those funds, as well as falsely claiming unemployment benefits by misrepresenting their employment status, and received about 39 million KRW in reward.

*Wages, shutdown allowances, and severance pay that the state pays on behalf of employers from the Wage Claims Guarantee Fund when a business is unable to fulfill its wage obligations due to bankruptcy or other reasons.

In the healthcare sector, there were reports of suspicions regarding the establishment of illegal medical institutions (commonly known as "hospitals owned by non-medical personnel") and cases of unlawfully claiming medical benefits through false medical records.

Whistleblower E reported the representative of a hospital established in collusion between non-medical personnel and medically qualified practitioners and received approximately 130 million KRW in reward.

Whistleblower F reported a hospital that fraudulently overcharged for medical benefits by falsifying patient medical records, and received about 160 million KRW in reward.

In the welfare sector, there were cases of fraudulent receipt of childcare subsidies through false registrations of teachers and hiding income and assets or not reporting common-law marriage relationships to unlawfully obtain basic livelihood security benefits and single-parent family support.

Whistleblower G reported the director of a childcare facility who fraudulently received subsidies by falsely registering work experience and improperly inputting children's commuting times, and received about 47 million KRW in reward.

Whistleblower H reported I, who fraudulently received basic livelihood security benefits while maintaining a common-law marriage relationship without reporting it to the relevant authorities, for which the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission paid approximately 9 million KRW in reward.

Meanwhile, after receiving the decision on reward payments, whistleblowers can apply for additional rewards when there is an additional recovery or increase in public institution revenue or when related legal relationships are established due to new facts.

In this third quarter, two cases for which additional reward was applied after the previous reward payment decisions, resulting from confirmed administrative recovery actions and court rulings, were paid 65 million KRW in rewards.

Chung Seung Yun, Vice-chairperson of the ACRC, stated, "We will actively operate a whistleblower support system to ensure that appropriate reward is provided to brave whistleblowers who contribute to realizing a just society free from corruption."