National Commission for the Protection of Citizen Rights, Government Sejong Complex. /Courtesy of News1

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on the 26th that it paid 1.54 billion won in rewards to 74 whistleblowers in the fourth quarter of this year. According to the commission, thanks to these whistleblowers, public institutions were able to recover 56.8 billion won in revenue.

Reward payouts for reports were highest in industry (52%), employment (22%), environment and land (7%), welfare, medical care, and research and development (each 5%), and others (4%) in that order. Person A received 130 million won for reporting a case where a corporation established an affiliate to provide undue support and give excessive financial benefits to the owner family. Person B received 103 million won for reporting the head of a company that fraudulently received job-training subsidies.

Person C received 37 million won for reporting cases in which officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport brokered or condoned illegal subcontracting and accepted bribes. Person D was awarded 12 million won for reporting an individual who hid their income for five years while receiving basic living support allowances. Lee Myung-sun, Vice Chairperson for Anti-Corruption at the commission, said, “We hope to uncover corruption acts that undermine social trust.”