28-year-old wealthy Japanese businessman, Mitsutoki Shigeta, has just been named the legal parent and sole guardian to 13 surrogate babies he fathered with nine Thai surrogate mothers.
Mitsutoki Shigeta, a multimillionaire, used his sperm to fertilise donor eggs, which were then planted in the wombs of the Thai women back in 2013. The origins of the donor eggs have not been released.
Reuters reports that after it was established Mitsutoki had no links to human trafficking, the court ruled for custody in his favour mainly due to his financial situation.
“The petitioner is an heir and president of a well-known company listed in a stock exchange in Japan, owner and shareholder in many companies, and receives dividend of more than 100 million baht ($3.18 million) from a single company in a year, which shows the petitioner has professional stability and an ample income to raise all the children,” a statement from the court read.
“Therefore, it is ruled that all the 13 children are legal children of the petitioner … and the petitioner is their sole guardian.”
This was certainly a win for the Japanese business man who has been campaigning for custody since 2014.
The man’s lawyer explains his motivation for wanting so many children as “personal and business reasons.”
“He has personal and business reasons. He was born in a big family, so he wants his children to grow up together,” he told reporters.
The case has also spurred a crackdown on Thailand’s largely uncontrolled surrogacy business.
After the case was brought to court in 2014, a law was passed banning commercial surrogacy in Thailand in 2015.
