Whistleblower in 'Steel Mill Scrap Collusion' to Receive 1.75 Billion KRW... 'Largest Reward Ever'

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[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] A whistleblower who reported that seven steelmakers, including Hyundai Steel and Dongkuk Steel, colluded on scrap metal prices to the Fair Trade Commission will receive the largest reward ever.

On the 23rd, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it paid a reward of 1,755,970,000 KRW to the whistleblower who reported the scrap metal purchase collusion involving seven steelmakers. This is the largest reward amount paid since the whistleblower reward system was introduced in 2005.

The scrap metal purchase collusion case resulted in a total fine of 300 billion KRW imposed on the seven steelmakers and four companies being referred to the prosecution. The whistleblower submitted evidence to the Fair Trade Commission proving the list of collusion participants and the details of the collusion. The reward amount was calculated by multiplying the standard payment amount based on the fine level by the payment rate according to the evidence level of the submitted report (highest, high, medium, low).

Reward Payment Procedure for Reporting.

The Fair Trade Commission paid a total of 1,894,380,000 KRW in whistleblower rewards to 20 whistleblowers who contributed to uncovering illegal acts such as collusion and unfair support cases during the first half of this year, including the steelmakers' scrap metal collusion.

Since the introduction of the whistleblower reward system, the Fair Trade Commission has actively operated the system by expanding the scope of rewardable acts to include violations of the Large-scale Distribution Business Act (August 2015), unfair profit-seeking by controlling shareholders (October 2017), violations of the Agency Act and Franchise Transaction Act (July 2018), and omission of domestic affiliates in designated data submissions (May 2021), as well as raising the payment limits.

The total amount paid in whistleblower rewards over the past five years is 3.5 billion KRW. The total fines related to whistleblower rewards amount to approximately 231.5 billion KRW, with whistleblower rewards averaging about 1.5% of the total fines.

A Fair Trade Commission official said, "We expect an increase in reports of covert legal violations following the payment of the largest whistleblower reward ever," adding, "Going forward, the Fair Trade Commission plans to revitalize the reporting system and thoroughly protect public interest whistleblowers to more effectively detect legal violations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.