Whistleblower’s Rights in Korea

2014. 6

Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission

Structure of Whistleblower Laws in Korea

ACRC Act

A P P I W

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Subject Matters of Protected Disclosure

Bribery and pursuit of private interest by public officials Fraud or acts causing financial damage to the public org. Coercion/offer to commit or conceal the acts mentioned above

Public health Public safety Environment

Consumer interest Fair competition

A C R C A c t

A P P I W

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1 ACRC receives and verifies reports of corruption.

2 ACRC refers them to investigative agencies.

3 The agencies conduct investigation.

4 The agencies notify ACRC of the results.

5 ACRC notifies the whistleblowers of the results.

Handling Procedure of Disclosures

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Disclosure & Other Activities to be Covered

1. Status of Protected Whistleblowers

2. In Good Faith and With Reasonable belief

3. Where to Make a Disclosure

4. Other Activities to be Protected

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Reward money In Employment Relations

Protection Rewards

In Non-Employment Relations

Protecting and Rewarding Measures

Award money

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Protection in Employment Relations

1. Request for corrective action to the ACRC

2. Investigation & Deliberation by the ACRC

3. Corrective Action Ordered by the ACRC

4. Punishment: 1 year in prison or fine (USD 10,000)

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Protection in Non-Employment Relation

1. Protection of Personal Safety

2. Special Protection in Criminal Proceedings

3. Confidentiality: 3 years in prison or fine

4. Administrative & Economic Warranties

5. Mitigation of culpability

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Guarantee of Employment

Cases of Protecting Whistleblowers

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The whistleblower requested guarantee of employment claiming that he suffered disciplinary action after reporting corruption of his predecessor related to waste disposal. -

The ACRC confirmed need for whistleblower to act as described and demanded revocation of disciplinary action and imposed a penalty.

☞ Head of agency nullified disciplinary action and paid the penalty.

Case detail

Result of investigation

Reduction of salary for 1 month & Surcharge of KRW 100,000 for receiving prohibited entertainment and hampering institutional reputation

Physical Protection

Cases of Protecting Whistleblowers

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The whistleblower was threatened to cancel his report on illegally raised purchasing price, and requested physical protection to the ACRC.

The ACRC confirmed need for protection, and demanded the police to provide emergency protection including regular patrol in whitsleblower’s neighborhood.

Case detail

Result of investigation

Confidentiality

Cases of Protecting Whistleblowers

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The whistleblower requested the ACRC to confirm whether his identity was leaked claiming that in 8 hours from reporting he canceled his report on overestimating construction expenses as head of construction team after threatened by the company. Official A who received report revealed reporter’s identity to B of the company, B again to C. The ACRC demanded disciplinary action against them.

☞ Warning and admonition were given respectively.

Case detail

Result of investigation

♦ Whistleblowers suffer mental illnesses Ex) Anxiety, Stress for fear of identity exposure, etc

☞ MOU with Korean-NeuroPsychiatric-Association to provide financial support(KRW 500,000) for psychiatric treatment of whistleblowers

♦ Legal aid is provided upon request of whistleblower

☞ MOU with Korean-Bar-Association to provide legal aid Ex) litigation service, legal counseling

Medical Support and Legal Aid

Cases of Protecting Whistleblowers

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Medical Support

Legal Aid

Reward & Award to Whistleblowers

Reward Money

Whistleblower contributing directly to increasing or recovering revenues of public organization

4 ~ 20% of recovered money awarded * maximum USD 2 million

Award Money

Whistleblower contributing to public interest, institutional improvement & disciplinary action

Up to USD 100,000

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Corruption Disclosures Made (2002-2013)

Performance in Handling Disclosures

Category total Referred to investigative

agencies

Identified violation of code

of conduct

Forwarded to agencies

Closed

Reports handled

28,246

1,035

430

9,620

17,161

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13

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Number of Cases Referred to Investigative Agencies (2002-2013)

Performance in Handling Disclosures

Total

Referral to investigative agencies

Notification of result

Under Investigation

Subtotal ①

Corruption Detected ②

Acquittal

1,035

907

647

260

128

Detection Rate(②/①)

71.3%

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Number of Requests for Protection (2002-2013)

Performance in Protecting whistleblowers

Category

Protection in employment

relations

Protection of

personal safety

Guarantee of

confidentiality

Requests

146

22

13

Accepted

48 (33%)

14 (64%)

4 (31%)

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Reward for Whistleblowers (2002-2013)

No. of Cases Amount of Recovered money Amount of Reward

220 USD 60,313,858 USD 6,228,664

* The largest amount of reward is USD about 400,000

Performance in Rewarding Whistleblowers

-

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13

Amount of Reward

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Award for Whistleblowers (2006-2013)

No. of Cases Amount of Award

63 USD 487,000

Performance in Rewarding Whistleblowers

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Largest Ever Award Case

Cases of Rewarding Whistleblowers

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A construction company was paid approx. KRW 5.5 billion for sewage pipelines that they didn’t build. 11 people faced imprisonment and fine,

and KRW 5.5 billion was recovered including construction expenses.

☞ USD 400,000 was paid in award.(largest ever amount)

Case detail

Result of investigation

From ex post facto system To pre-emptive and preventive protection system

Improving Public Awareness and Efficiency of Whistleblowing

Public-Private Partnership - MOU with best businesses - Cooperative council with

report-receiving organizations to support implementation

Customized promotion and education for private companies

and public organizations

Introducing “Emergency Suspension of Disadvantages

Against Whistleblower”

Promoting Financial Reward System

- Promoting payment of financial reward and recommendation

system for reward

Recommend organizations to set up policies, and distribute

manuals and standardized whistleblowing procedure

-Guidelines for businesses -* Providing immunity for violations

of confidentiality under the standard employment regulation

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