Suspected of Offering Illegal Kickbacks to Hospitals
JW Pharmaceutical is under investigation for allegedly giving rebates worth tens of billions of won to hospitals across the country between 2016 and 2019.
The National Police Agency's National Criminal Investigation Division had raided JW Pharmaceutical’s main office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, four times since July last year to secure accounting books and transaction details.
At least four company officials have been booked as suspects by the police in connection with the case. Whether the four included Shin Young-seop, CEO of JW Pharmaceutical, is not known.
The police analyzed a mobile phone of a JW Pharmaceutical employee among the seized evidence and found circumstantial evidence that an incumbent prosecutor leaked confidential information to a prosecutor-turned-lawyer. The police filed for a seizure search warrant with the prosecution in May, but the application was rejected. The prosecution viewed the file as illegally collected evidence. The police sought a warrant from the prosecution again but it was also rejected.
The prosecution is under fire for defending the prosecutor and the prosecutor-turned-lawyer. It remains to be seen whether the recently launched Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) will take over the case and investigate it properly.