Gyeonggi Province Distributes 554.9 Million Won in Compensation to Public Interest Whistleblowers

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] Gyeonggi Province will distribute a total of 554.9 million won in compensation to public interest whistleblowers.

According to the province on the 4th, the first 2023 Gyeonggi Province Public Interest Whistleblower Support Committee was held on the 13th of last month, and it was decided to provide 40.49 million won to an internal whistleblower who reported false billing of contractor labor costs, and 15 million won to an internal whistleblower who reported fraudulent receipt of project funding.

Whistleblower A reported that a company performing quarantine and disinfection services for Gyeonggi Province was illegally billing contractor labor costs by falsely recording names of employees who did not actually work on the attendance roster.

Following investigation, the province confirmed that 130 million won in labor costs were fraudulently billed and took recovery measures.

Another whistleblower B reported that Company C, which received project funding, conspired with Company D, which manufactured equipment, to fraudulently submit execution verification documents as if used equipment had been newly manufactured and delivered, thereby illegally receiving project funds.

As a result of the investigation, it was confirmed that the equipment was not newly manufactured, and 50 million won in subsidies were fully recovered.

In addition, for 8 other reports including ▲illegal industrial wastewater discharge (1 case) ▲childcare subsidy fraud (1 case) ▲violation of agricultural and livestock product country-of-origin labeling requirements (1 case) ▲illegal paid transportation of private cargo vehicles (5 cases), a total of 2.65 million won in reward money was decided to be distributed.

The province provides compensation when reports from internal public interest whistleblowers result in recovery or increase in provincial financial revenue.

Compensation is provided at 30% of the provincial financial revenue recovered or increased by the report, with no upper limit.

Public interest reports can be made to the dedicated reporting channel 'Gyeonggi Province Public Interest Whistleblower Hotline (hotline.gg.go.kr)'. When a report is confirmed as factual and administrative or judicial measures are taken, whistleblowers receive compensation and reward money.

For those who do not wish to disclose personal information, an anonymous proxy reporting lawyer group is operated to allow whistleblowers to designate a lawyer as their reporting representative.

Additionally, considering that residents face difficulties in reporting due to insufficient understanding of reportable conduct and procedures, Gyeonggi Province has produced case collections in three fields: environment and safety sectors closely related to residents' daily lives and corrupt conduct.

The case collections can be viewed through the Gyeonggi Province Public Interest Whistleblower Hotline (hotline.gg.go.kr) and the Gyeonggi Province e-book service (ebook.gg.go.kr).