Whistleblower Passes Away After Reporting Corruption... Heir Receives Reward

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission
Awards 630 Million Won to 59 Whistleblowers in the First Quarter
Heir of Deceased Whistleblower Also Receives Reward
Medical, Employment, and Welfare Sectors Receive Highest Rewards

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (Chairperson Yoo Cheolhwan) announced on May 1 that it awarded a total of approximately 630 million won in rewards to 59 whistleblowers of corruption and public interest in the first quarter of this year.

The total amount of revenue recovered by public institutions through corruption and public interest reports was estimated at about 7.25 billion won. The three sectors that received the highest amounts of rewards were: medical (160 million won, 26.4%), employment (160 million won, 25.6%), and welfare (150 million won, 24%). The commission also revealed that, among this quarter's reward decisions, there was a case in which a reward was paid to the heir of a whistleblower who had passed away. Whistleblower A reported a company that embezzled funds for a project to remove pine trees infested with pine wilt disease, resulting in the recovery of approximately 66 million won. However, A passed away before being able to apply for the reward while the investigation was still ongoing. Later, the heir submitted a reward application on their behalf, but under the previous regulations, it was difficult to grant the reward.

The commission conducted a proactive administrative pre-consultation and, after comprehensively considering the following factors?first, that the whistleblower did not receive notification of the investigation results through no fault of their own, and second, that the corrupt act had already been uncovered and the project funds reduced while the whistleblower was still alive?decided to award approximately 13 million won to the heir.

Lee Myungsun, Vice Chairperson for Anti-Corruption at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, stated, "We decided to grant the reward to the whistleblower's heir after considering both the circumstances that prevented the whistleblower from applying for the reward despite their courageous report, and the whistleblower's contribution to the public interest. We will continue to actively operate the whistleblower protection and reward systems to further encourage corruption and public interest reporting."