Thais to check on Japanese man’s four alleged surrogate kids in Cambodia

[geovalin]

BANGKOK – Thai officials will soon travel to Cambodia after an adviser to a Japanese man claiming to be the father of at least 15 babies in Thailand on Friday invited them to see how well four children apparently fathered by the man are being raised in Cambodia.

Assistant National Police Chief Kokiat Wongworachart, in a news conference in Bangkok, referred to the adviser as the man’s “coordinator” and said the coordinator had sent police photographs of the children in Cambodia showing they are in good health.

Still, the assistant chief said, Thai authorities need to check on them in person.

According to Thai Immigration Department records, the Japanese man has traveled to Thailand 40 times and on at least some occasions he left the country with children, apparently those he fathered via surrogate mothers in Thailand.

Bangkok Deputy Police Chief Chayuth Thanataweerat urged the Japanese businessman to meet with Thai officials to prove he is the father of all the children and to tell the officials why he wants to father so many children.

Chayuth said an explanation from the businessman will go a long way to reassuring both the authorities and the public that all the children are wanted and that the man is prepared to take care of all of them.

Chayuth admitted Thailand holds little power to deal with the man, but “several channels” are being used to obtain information about him.

DNA tests on the babies have shown at least nine of them were fathered by the same man, with several different women, but it has not been definitively proven the unnamed Japanese man and the father of the nine is the same person.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Social Development and Human Security Ministry said the ministry has provided guardianship for 12 babies, but no decision has been taken on what will eventually happen to them.

Assistant chief Kokiat said if the father wants to claim the 12 babies he will need to meet Thailand’s legal requirements to do so.

In total, the Japanese man is believed to be the father of 15 babies and one pregnant Thai woman has told police she is carrying a child fathered by the man.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/08/16/national/crime-legal/thais-to-check-on-japanese-mans-four-alleged-surrogate-kids-in-cambodia/#.U_AP9aNWLKc

[geovalin]

‘Baby factory’ suspect living in Cambodia

Mon, 18 August 2014

Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear

A Japanese businessman suspected of human trafficking after police raided his “baby factory” in Bangkok has invited Thai officials to Cambodia where four of his surrogate-born offspring are being raised.

At a press conference on Saturday, Thai police said they would accept the offer, which was extended via the father’s self-described “coordinator”. A delegation will soon be sent to Cambodia to investigate the well-being of the infants, according to assistant Thai police chief Kokiat Wongworachart.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 24, is under investigation for suspicions that he was fathering and then selling numerous infants across Asia. Earlier this month, Thai police raided Shigeta’s Bangkok apartment, finding nine surrogate babies and a pregnant surrogate mother, as well as birth certificates linking him to another six infants in Thailand.

Police believe Shigeta fathered at least 15 babies in Thailand using donor eggs, in vitro fertilisation and 11 different surrogate mothers. Shigeta allegedly fled to Macau after being tipped off about the raid.

According to Thai immigration officers, Shigeta has visited Thailand over 40 times since 2012, and occasionally brought babies out of the country with him. Eleven of the infants, who are between 6 months and 1 year old, are currently in the care of the junta government, while four others are in Cambodia, where Shigeta reportedly holds a passport due to his investments in the Kingdom.

Ministry of Commerce records show four Cambodian businesses registered under the name “Mitsutoki Shigeta”. All four list the same phone number, which went unanswered yesterday, and are in Sen Sok and Chamkarmon districts.

Government officials, however, said they are unaware of any investigation into Shigeta.

“We have not yet received any information, but we will cooperate with the Thai police should they investigate related to this case,” said Chhin Da, deputy director of the municipal anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection unit.

The National Police and officials at the ministry’s passport office could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Cambodia and Thailand both lack a legal structure regulating surrogacy, which reproduction officials said is not yet common, or explicitly legal, in Cambodia.

“The law has yet to catch up with technology,” said Dr Vor Chivorn, director of the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia. “People are talking more and more about it.”

In 2011, a Taiwanese national was arrested for running a commercial surrogacy service out of Thailand and Cambodia.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98baby-factory%E2%80%99-suspect-living-cambodia