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Accused of human trafficking and fathering 15, Mitsutoki Shigeta

'Human Trafficking' Adds to Surrogacy Misery: Japanese May Have Fathered 15 Babies

Wednesday, August 13, 2014
BANGKOK: Thailand's ''baby factory'' scandal has widened with revelations a suspected human trafficker fathered 15 babies through 11 surrogate mothers.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 24, a client of the most popular surrogacy clinic in the Thai capital for Australians, helped create an application for mobile devices designed to monitor the movement of children and their family members.

DNA samples taken from nine babies aged six-months to one year from a Bangkok condominium last week show they were fathered by the one man, believed to be Mr Shigeta, who is from a wealthy Japanese family.

Records in Bangkok show that 15 children have been registered as children of Mr Shigeta, who left Thailand within hours of police raiding the condominium and finding the babies and a pregnant Thai woman.

Four babies, two of whom are twins, were taken out of Thailand by Mr Shigeta before the scandal broke amid a crackdown on commercial surrogacy in Thailand that was prompted by a Fairfax Media report on baby Gammy's plight.

Police revealed they have just discovered twins born at a Bangkok hospital and another possibly 16th baby born to a Thai surrogate mother who are linked to Mr Shigeta.

Mr Shigeta helped create Familonet, a Hamburg-based start-up that developed an application to automatically alert parents about the movements of their children, the 'South China Morning Post' reported.

Mr Shigeta reportedly held a four percent share in the company. There is no evidence linking the app to human trafficking.

Thailand's deputy national police chief Acek Angsananont said the priority now is the welfare of the babies who are being cared for in a government-funded home.

He said Mr Shigeta was involved in an activity ''breeding a large number of children without love or bonding, which may lead to damage in society.''

Meanwhile, questions have been raised in Thailand about why Australian government agencies continued with policies to allow hundreds Australians seeking babies through surrogacy in Bangkok to become vulnerable to human trafficking charges under Thai law.

In January 50 Israeli couples who had hired Thai women as surrogates were blocked from taking their children home after the Israeli government, worried about Thai laws granting parental rights to the Thai surrogate, declined to issue visas for the children.

Israel was worried that removing the Thai-born children from their birth country could be construed as kidnapping.

Queensland, NSW and the ACT have specific laws banning people going overseas for commercial surrogacy but no Australian has ever been prosecuted for entering into a commercial surrogacy arrangement overseas.

Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop and officials of the Australian embassy in Bangkok have appealed to Thailand's strict military rulers to allow a moratorium for up to 150 Australian couples who have entered into existing surrogacy arrangements, so they will be able to take their babies home.

About 50 of them were clients of ALLIFV Center, the clinic used by Mr Shigeta which was forced to close last Friday.

Under the crackdown Thai authorities have declared they will treat commercial surrogacy as human trafficking until a law is passed in Thailand's military-dominated parliament that provides for up 10 years jail for violating surrogacy laws.

At least one Australian couple attempting to take their baby out of Thailand has been turned away at Bangkok airport.

Many of the Australians, some of them same-sex couples, who have been left in limbo, are deeply distressed by the situation they have found themselves in after believing they were not doing anything illegal.

Thailand became the go-to country for commercial surrogacy because there were no laws dealing specifically with the industry.

The most popular way for foreign couples to take their babies was for the surrogate mother to renounce her parental rights and offer the name of the intended father to register the baby's birth certificate.

Thailand's military rulers have given no public indication they will agree to a moratorium while medical officials push for charges to be laid against the doctors running ALLIVF and those involved in the birth of Gammy and his twin sister.

Six-month old Gammy, who has Down syndrome and a heart condition, was left behind in Thailand by his Australian biological father David Farnell, a convicted child sex offender, prompting a furore in Thailand and Australia.

Australian officials have declined to provide any detail about how Mr Farnell and his wife Wendy obtained permission from Australian agencies to take Gammy's sister Pipah to Australia, citing privacy reasons.

'The Bangkok Post' quoted Thai officials as saying there were only two ways Pipah could have being allowed to leave Thailand.

They say Mr Farnell might have obtained Australian nationality for the girl because he did not take a Thai birth certificate to certify her nationality to the Australian embassy.

Alternatively Pipah might have been given a Thai birth certificate and a Thai passport.

Mr Farnell may have then obtained an Australian visa to take her to Australia.

Fairfax Media

Comments

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"Thailand's ''baby factory'' scandal has widened with revelations a suspected human trafficker fathered 15 babies through 11 surrogate mothers."

Thailand may enter into the Guinness' book record....Hum....

Posted by Whistle-Blower on August 13, 2014 11:39

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I do not think convicted child molesters should be allowed children, especially to adopt them. It is an illness.

Posted by Fiesty Farang on August 13, 2014 13:09

Editor Comment:

Is there a link between pedophiles and incest, FF? I suspect you will find many pedophiles have made devoted fathers. In this particular case, the man's adult children say that he was a ''wonderful'' father. The prospect of a person doing something wrong, serving a penalty and perhaps being changed for the better seems to offer a message of hope. Perhaps it's a mistake for others to judge from a distance, without special knowledge or expertise. Adoption, by the way, is quite different. This is surrogacy.

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Ed, I can relate to your point and I am no expert, what I know is that I have only had sexual feelings towards ladies and if someone told me I should not have these feelings it would be difficult if not impossible to stop them. I might not show them but that does not mean they go away. Children are one of the most, if not the most section of society that needs protection and although we do not agree I think my original comment stands and perhaps it would put potential child molesters off doing their disgusting physical deeds. Please note he is not a suspected child molester but a convicted child molester in a competent jurisdiction, Australia. I am a sympathetic person and used to work as a volunteer in a mental hospital when all of my friends were scared to, but child molestation is something completely evil in my opinion, perverse and bullying.

Posted by Fiesty Farang on August 13, 2014 13:36

Editor Comment:

You are telling us things we know, and giving us your opinion. I am reluctant to be seen to defend his character - I just don't know. Nor do you.
In such a case, and particularly so given your background, it's obviously best not to apply guesswork.

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This fellow looks about the same age as the number of babies he has fathered, 15

Posted by farang888 on August 14, 2014 21:59


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