Japanese man wants 20 babies to run his empire in surrogacy scandal

THE JAPANESE man at the centre of a surrogacy scandal has fathered 12 babies through Thai surrogates because he wants children to take care of his many family businesses, his lawyer has told Thai police.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 24, has declared assets of over Bt4 billion (S$157.2 million) and earned Bt80 million a year from dividends alone, according to details provided by the lawyer, Kong Suriyamonthon.

Assistant National Police Commissioner Lt-General Korkiat Wongworachat yesterday met with Kong and received documents that show Shigeta is from a very wealthy family.

"His parents know about his surrogacy children," Kong said, adding that Shigeta hoped to have up to 20 children. The lawyer said Shigeta wanted to take care of all his children and would take necessary moves to do this.

Korkiat said based on available information, Shigeta's activities did not constitute human trafficking.
"He doesn't need to meet investigators here. But if he comes, he will clear public doubts about him," the senior police officer said.

Also implicated in this scandal was Dr Pisit Tantiwattanakul, who is the owner of the All IVF clinic. He finally turned himself in to police yesterday, more than a month since the scandal broke, as it was the final deadline for him to answer to a police summons. If there are any more delays, police said they would have issued a warrant for his arrest.

"I have not done anything wrong. I wish to plead for empathy from society," Pisit said as he showed up at Lumpini Police Station. He said he had studied Assisted Reproductive Technology in Australia and had operated his All IVF clinic with a proper licence.