The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) paid a total of about 910 million won in rewards to 64 corruption and public interest whistleblowers in the first quarter of this year, the commission said Wednesday.
Public institutions recovered approximately 49.4 billion won in revenue as a result. The sectors that received the largest reward payouts were research and development (210 million won, 22.9%), public-sector corruption (190 million won, 20.9%), employment (160 million won, 18.0%), and welfare (150 million won, 16.8%).
In one case, an informant identified only as "A" received a reward of 85 million won for reporting a company executive who had fraudulently received research and development funds while carrying out a government research project, by falsely registering participating researchers and inflating employee salaries. Another informant, identified as "B," received a reward of 43 million won for reporting public officials who had taken bribes from construction companies in exchange for arranging illegal subcontractors and conducting false completion inspections.
"The ACRC uncovers covertly conducted acts of corruption and infringement of the public interest through whistleblower reports, and pays commensurate rewards to those who report them," ACRC Chairperson Jeong Il-yeon said. "We will continue to do our best to encourage active reporting through proactive compensation for whistleblowers."
