Out of total public interest reports received in 2018, matters related to public health sector accounted for 40.4%, the largest proportion, followed by those pertaining to safety and consumer interests

ACRC selected top 5 public interest whistleblowing cases from 2018, including that involving a pharmaceutical company which offered illegal medical rebates

December 27, 2018

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

It has been found that the total number of public interest whistle-blowing cases submitted in 2018 stood at 1,856, with matters related with the public health sector taking up the biggest share of 40.4%, followed by cases connected to the public safety and consumer interest sector.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong) selected the top 5 public interest whistle-blowing cases that were meaningful or closely related to the lives of the public among various cases submitted thereto in 2018 in accordance with the Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers.

To break down by area of public interest reports submitted over the year of 2018, the biggest number of reports pertained to the public health sector, accounting for 40.4% with 749 cases, followed by those relating to the safety and consumer interests that took up 33.5% (621 cases) and 10.1% (188 cases), respectively. The public interest reports filed in relation to the environment and fair competition sectors recorded a total of 150 cases (8.1%) and 147 cases (7.9%), respectively.

< The Status of Public Interest Reports Received by ACRC in 2018>

※ One case in the area of ‘Others’ excluded

The ACRC selected ‘the top 5 public interest whistle-blowing cases from 2018’ that were socially meaningful or closely connected to the lives of the people out of 226 cases of which it was notified regarding the results of necessary measures taken by an investigation or inspection agency after it confirmed whether there were any violations of public interest. Below are selected cases from 2018:

With regard to the public health sector, the ACRC chose a case involving a pharmaceutical company specialized in intravenous fluids that provided illegal medical rebates worth approximately KRW 40 million in 83 occasions to relevant medical staffs in a hospital in order to induce them to prescribe the company’s medical products. A total of 79 people implicated in this case have been indicted and among them, 72 people under summary indictment have been levied fines of about KRW 370 million.

As for the safety sector, it selected a case where an administrative fine for negligence amounting to KRW 4.22 million was imposed due to the inadequate appropriation of the occupational safety and health maintenance costs, which are required to be set separately for the prevention of industrial accidents, below the statutory standard upon entering into a contract for construction work and the misuse thereof.

In the consumer interests sector, it singled out a case involving a special category telecommunications business operator who was sent to the public prosecutor’s office on the charge of continuing to run a business even after his/her business registration was revoked due to his/her failure to secure necessary surety insurance for the protection of subscribers.

In the environment sector, it selected a case involving a company collecting waste aluminum to recycle and sell it which illegally discharged air pollutants without filtering them out through an air pollution prevention facility. The company was levied an administrative fine of KRW 60 million.

In the fair competition sector, it chose a case involving an electronics manufacturing company that did not pay a commission and arrear of interest to around 80 business operators in spite of its late subcontract payment after the statutory deadline. This company was imposed a corrective order and an administrative fine of KRW 270 million.

The acting director general of the Inspection and Protection Bureau at the ACRC, Lim Yoon-ju said that “with people’s concerns for infringements of public interests taking place in the private sector increasing year after year, the number of public interest reports received by the ACRC rose by around 500 cases from 1,362 cases in 2017 to 1,856 cases in 2018,” adding that “the ACRC will continue to strive to create a condition for whistleblowers to disclose violations of public interests without worries so as to come up to the growing interests and expectations of the people.”

Anyone can submit a report on infringements of public interests via the official website of the ACRC or an online portal named e-People, etc. and the identity of public interest whistleblowers will be thoroughly protected. Internal whistleblowers will be paid up to KRW 3 billion in monetary rewards.