The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) in the U.S. will award over 24 million dollars to a former Hyundai Motor Co. employee, who reported crucial information on engine defects in Hyundai and Kia cars.

The agency made the announcement in a statement released on Tuesday, citing that it is the first payout of its whistleblower program established in 2015 under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act that only went into effect this year.

The award is the maximum percentage allowed under the legislation of the 81 million dollars in cash that the U.S. government received from Hyundai. 

According to Reuters, the whistleblower, Kim Gwang-ho, was a Hyundai engineer for some two decades. He had alerted both the NHTSA and that South Korean government in 2016 that Hyundai failed to take proper measures after finding defects in its Theta II engines.

Reuters quoted Kim as saying that he’s pleased to have been justly compensated for the risks he took to protect those who owned the cars with the defective engine while also thanking the U.S. legal system.