Cabinet to give bigger reward for whistleblowers

The Cabinet was to approve a proposal Tuesday to provide whistleblowers with a maximum reward of 3 billion won ($2.78 million) if their reports lead to marked increases in revenues of the central or local governments.

The proposal, set to pass through a Cabinet meeting to be presided over by President Moon Jae-in, calls for revising the enforcement ordinance of the Protection of Public Interest Reporters Act to raise the maximum whistleblower reward from the current 2 billion won.

The act calls for providing financial rewards for information that leads to a direct recovery of or increase in revenues of the state or a local government through imposition of penalties, forfeitures and other measures that wouldn't be possible without such whistleblower reports.

Last month, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission provided about 267 million won of reward to a company's whistleblower whose reports of rigging between karaoke machine manufacturers led to the government collecting 6.3 billion won in additional revenues. (Yonhap)