Police detected signs that investigative information was leaked outside the Seongnam Jungwon Police Station, which had investigated allegations of illegal rebates at Daewoong Pharmaceutical, and launched a compulsory investigation.
According to police on Aug. 11, the anti-corruption and economic crimes unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency searched and seized the Seongnam Jungwon Police Station on Aug. 7 on suspicion of leaking official secrets.
Through the search and seizure, police are said to have secured internal documents containing materials related to the Daewoong Pharmaceutical rebate case previously investigated by the Seongnam Jungwon station and the status of the probe. After analyzing the seized items, police plan to summon those involved to verify the exact circumstances of the information leak.
The allegations of illegal rebates at Daewoong Pharmaceutical surfaced in Apr. 2024 when a whistleblower reported them to the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission. The report stated that about 130 salespeople at Daewoong Pharmaceutical provided illegal rebates to about 380 hospitals and clinics from Jan. 2022 to Dec. 2023 in return for prescribing the company's drugs.
The Seongnam Jungwon station, which initially handled the case, closed it without booking anyone in Apr. last year after concluding there was no suspicion. After controversy over a sloppy investigation arose, the case was transferred in Jun. of the same year to the violent crime investigation unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency for reinvestigation.
Since then, the Gyeonggi Nambu agency's violent crime unit has searched and seized Daewoong Pharmaceutical's headquarters, its subsidiaries, and related firms as it investigated the rebate allegations.
The suspected leak of investigative information is reportedly not something that emerged during the investigation of the Daewoong Pharmaceutical rebate case itself. While the Gyeonggi Nambu agency's anti-corruption and economic crimes unit was investigating a separate case of a former police executive, identified as A, for violating the Attorney‑at‑Law Act, it reportedly detected signs that investigative information from the past Daewoong Pharmaceutical case had flowed outside.
Police are leaving open the possibility that A received investigative information about the Daewoong Pharmaceutical case from a contact at the Seongnam Jungwon station and passed it to Daewoong Pharmaceutical. Whether a contact at the Seongnam Jungwon station actually took part in leaking the information is expected to be confirmed through additional investigation.