Among 5 Corruption Consultations, 1 Case Involves Subsidy Fraud by 'Yamchejok'... "Employee on Leave" While Making Them Work

Anti-Corruption Commission Receives 7,957 Public Corruption Reports in First Half of Year
Decision to Recover 8.78 Billion KRW from Fraudulent Subsidy Claims

Consultations on Medical Law Violations Including Unqualified Medical Practices
Increase in Employment Consultations on Workplace Harassment and Unpaid Wages

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok]

#A company owner continuously instructed employees to work while creating false documents as if the employees were on leave, submitting them to authorities. Thanks to this, they were able to regularly receive COVID-19 employment retention subsidies.

#B company employees are worried about reporting the company’s fraudulent receipt of COVID-19 employment retention subsidies, fearing they might violate the 'confidentiality obligation' under employment rules. The government responded that even if the report contains job-related secrets, it is not considered a violation of the confidentiality obligation.

It was found that one out of five corruption-related public interest reports filed by citizens to the government involved consultations on fraudulent receipt of government subsidies such as employment retention subsidies and basic living expenses. This means that 'freeloaders' who take subsidies under the pretext of COVID-19 but do not use them properly are rampant.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced on the 29th the results of analyzing 5,160 corruption-related public interest report consultations in the first half of the year. The analysis revealed that one in five cases involved fraudulent receipt of subsidies. The ACRC received 7,967 corruption-related public interest reports in the first half of the year, and the amount decided for recovery related to government subsidy fraud cases processed this year reached approximately 8.78 billion KRW.

Consultations on fraudulent receipt of subsidies accounted for 1,031 cases, representing 20% of all consultations. Specifically, these included ▲fraudulent receipt of basic living expenses (172 cases) ▲fraudulent receipt of employment retention subsidies (104 cases) ▲fraudulent receipt of unemployment benefits (81 cases) ▲fraudulent receipt of research and development support funds (81 cases), in that order.

There were many inquiries from internal employees wanting to report cases where business owners, claiming that business was deteriorating due to COVID-19 and that they needed to suspend operations to receive employment retention subsidies, actually continued to have employees come to work or assigned tasks.

Since the amendment of the 'Labor Standards Act' on April 14, which added it to the list of laws subject to public interest reporting, consultations related to employment and labor issues such as ▲non-compliance with working hours ▲non-payment of wages ▲workplace harassment (93 cases) have also increased.

Consultations related to public interest reports under the 'Public Interest Whistleblower Protection Act' concerning citizens’ health, safety, and environment accounted for 1,336 cases (25.9%). Public interest report consultations cover acts subject to penalties or administrative sanctions under 471 laws stipulated by law. In the first half of the year, consultations on 127 laws were conducted. Among these, consultations on violations of the Medical Service Act, including 'proxy hospitals,' pharmaceutical rebates, unqualified medical practices, and reuse of medical supplies, were the most frequent with 140 cases.

Gwon Geun-sang, head of the ACRC Government Joint Civil Complaint Center, urged, "If you inquire through the corruption-related public interest report hotline or the Integrity Portal’s 'Corruption Public Interest Report,' you can receive professional consultations under strict confidentiality, so please actively use these services."

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