SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jeena Kim, Kyunghwan Lee, Eunyoung Row and Bochan Kim, Bae, Kim & Lee LLC
Article 4 of the FBPA A corporation may face a fine of up to KRW1 billion if it is found liable for its employee’s violation of the FBPA and if the benefit gained from the bribe is KRW500 million or less. Violation of Prohibition of Payment and Receipt of Money or Valuables Under the Graft Act Article 22 (1) of the Graft Act A recipient or giver of money or valuables exceeding KRW1 million per instance or KRW3 million per fis - cal year may be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or with a fine of up to KRW30 million. Article 23 (5) of the Graft Act A recipient or giver of money or valuables not exceed - ing KRW1 million per instance or KRW3 million per fiscal year in connection with the recipient’s duties may be subject to an administrative fine equivalent to two to five times the value of the money or valuables received or given. Article 24 of the Graft Act The employer of the giver may be subject to vicari - ous liability up to the same level of a criminal fine or administrative fine of the giver, unless the employer has exerted due care and supervision. Additional Disadvantageous Measures Against the Offender Article 14 (1) of the Specific Economic Crimes Act Under this article, if an officer or employee of a finan - cial company is convicted of bribery, they will be pro - hibited from working for a certain period at: • any financial company; • any institution capitalised wholly or partially by the State or a local government; • any institution that receives any contribution or assistance from the State or a local government; and • any enterprise that is closely related to the con - victed offence. Article 14 (2) of the Specific Economic Crimes Act This article provides that the above offender and the enterprise in which the offender acts as a representa - tive or executive is prohibited from obtaining any
licence, registration or authorisation in connection with government-licensed businesses for a certain period of time. Under specific business sector regulations that restrict giving or accepting benefits, the relevant indi - vidual and/or business operator may be subject to licence revocation or suspension. For example, under Article 36 (1)(10) of the Medical Devices Act, the rel - evant authorities may revoke a licence for manufac - ture, importation or sale if the manufacturer, importer or distributor has committed illegal rebates against healthcare professionals. 5.2 Guidelines Applicable to the Assessment of Penalties The Sentencing Commission affiliated with the Supreme Court of Korea establishes separate sen - tencing guidelines for individual offences. The guide - lines outline mitigating, standard and aggravating sentencing ranges, enabling judges to determine an appropriate sentencing range by adjusting the range and then deciding on a final sentencing period. Specifically, the sentencing guidelines for bribery offences provide for different ranges of sentences based on the amount of the bribe. For example, if the amount of the bribe received is between KRW50 mil - lion and KRW100 million, the basic sentencing range is five to seven years; the mitigated range is three years and six months to six years, and the aggravated range is six to eight years. The movement within the sentencing range and the specific sentence selected within the range are deter - mined by considering mitigating and aggravating fac - tors. Repeated offences (recidivism) are an aggravat - ing factor that increases the sentence.
6. Disclosure Processes 6.1 Disclosure Obligations
In general, there is no legal obligation on individuals and/or companies to disclose violations of anti-bribery and anti-corruption provisions of which they become aware. However, financial institutions or listed compa - nies may be obliged to report financial accidents with
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