Image copyright EPA Image caption Nine babies were found in a Bangkok flat in 2014

A Bangkok court has awarded paternity rights to a Japanese man over 13 babies he fathered through Thai surrogate mothers.

The ruling allows Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, to pursue custody of the children.

The son of a wealthy entrepreneur, he caused controversy in 2014 when he was revealed to have fathered at least 16 babies via surrogates in Thailand.

His so-called "baby factory" case and others led to Thailand banning commercial surrogacy for foreigners.

Mr Shigeta, who was not present at the trial, was awarded "sole parent" rights after the Thai surrogates forfeited their rights, according to the court, which did not name him.

"For the happiness and opportunities which the 13 children will receive from their biological father, who does not have a history of bad behaviour, the court rules that all 13 born from surrogacy to be legal children of the plaintiff," Bangkok's Central Juvenile Court said in a statement.

Mr Shigeta was awarded custody of his three other children in 2015.

In 2014, he was investigated by Interpol for human trafficking after it emerged he had fathered 16 surrogate children in Thailand.

His Bangkok apartment was raided and police found nine surrogate babies, nannies and a pregnant surrogate mother there.

He left Thailand soon after, but later sued the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security for custody of the children.

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'He wanted a very large family'

By Jonathan Head, BBC News, South East Asia correspondent

When a blurred airport security photo was published, more than three years ago, of Mitsutoki Shigeta, holding an infant as he left Thailand, there was fevered speculation over his motives for siring so many children with surrogate mothers.

Some of the children had already been taken to Cambodia, and the Thai police began investigating him for possible human trafficking.

But his lawyer insisted he simply wanted a very large family, and that as the son of a wealthy Japanese entrepreneur he was able to look after them properly.

A court in Bangkok has now accepted that explanation: Thai officials told the court they had travelled to Cambodia and Japan, and found he had enough carers and facilities to bring up the 13 children who are still in state care in Thailand.

What is known about the father?

Few details are known about the background of Mr Shigeta.

According to Japanese media, he is the son of an IT billionaire and paid between $9,300 (£6,600) and $12,500 to each of the surrogate mothers.

Thai media says Mr Shigeta is unmarried, owns several companies himself and has already made plans for the future of his children, including setting up trust funds for them.

After leaving Thailand four years ago, he was thought to have moved to Hong Kong and currently lives in Japan again.

Media reports also suggest he might have travelled to India and Ukraine to father children there.

Gradual transfer of custody

The 13 children will not immediately be transferred into Mr Shigeta's custody.

His lawyer told AFP news agency that he would contact the Social Welfare Ministry about next steps, adding that the timelines still had to be agreed to avoid "abrupt changes" for the children.

Mr Shigeta's case shed light on Thailand's booming surrogacy industry, as did the case of "Baby Gammy" which also emerged in 2014.

Baby Gammy's Thai surrogate mother alleged that he was abandoned by his Australian parents after they found out he had Down's Syndrome. They took his twin sister home.

An Australian court later cleared the family of abandonment.</s>A Japanese man who became embroiled in a “baby factory” scandal four years ago has been granted sole custody of 13 children he fathered with Thai surrogate mothers.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, won custody on Tuesday, after taking the Thai government to court over his paternal rights, AFP reports. The court ruled that Shigeta, reportedly the son of a Japanese business tycoon, has ample means to care for such a large family.

“For the happiness and opportunities the 13 children will receive from their biological father — who does not have a history of bad [behavior] — the court rules them to be the plaintiff’s legal children,” Thailand’s Central Juvenile Court said in a statement.

In 2014, Shigeta, who is unmarried, was at the centrt of an international scandal after a luxury apartment in Bangkok was raided and found to contain nine children and their seven 24-hour nannies. It soon emerged that Shigeta had fathered 19 children in total, with 13 babies born to surrogate mothers living in Thailand, and six living in Cambodia and Japan. Police told AFP that he had paid the Thai surrogate mothers between $9,300 and $12,500 each.

His case contributed to the international outcry against Thailand’s “rent a womb” industry, and led to the Protection for Children Born Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act (ART Act) in 2015, preventing foreigners from paying for Thai surrogates.</s>A wealthy Japanese man has been granted sole parent rights to 13 children he fathered through Thai surrogate mothers, in a court ruling that paves the way for him to take them in Japan.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, became the centre of a “baby factory” scandal in 2014 after Thai police linked him via DNA to nine infants found under the care of 24-hour nannies in a luxury Bangkok apartment.

The children were estimated to be between two weeks and two years old at the time and have since been cared for by the Thai state, while another four were later deemed also to have been fathered by him.

The extraordinary discovery threw a spotlight on the kingdom’s then-unregulated “rent-a-womb” industry, prompting authorities to bar foreigners in 2015 from paying for Thai surrogates.

Shigeta, reportedly the son of a Japanese IT tycoon, left the country in the wake of the scandal and has never directly explained why he fathered so many children.

He later took Thailand’s ministry of social development and human security to court to seek custody of the children.

On Tuesday, a Bangkok court granted him legal rights to take the children, saying he had ample money to care for them and had prepared nurses and nannies at a safe residence in Japan.

“For the happiness and opportunities the 13 children will receive from their biological father – who does not have a history of bad behaviour – the court rules them to be the plaintiff’s legal children,” the central juvenile court said in a statement that did not mention Shigeta by name for privacy reasons.

Shigeta, who did not attend the trial, was deemed “sole parent” of the children after the Thai surrogates had signed away their rights, the court added.

His lawyer said he would contact the social welfare ministry about the next steps to transfer the children from state custody, adding that the timeline would depend on the “readiness” of the youngsters, most of whom are aged about four.

“There might be a need for the (state) shelter officials to stay with them for a while to avoid abrupt changes,” lawyer Kong Suriyamontol told reporters outside the court.

The social welfare ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

Shigeta was born into a large family and wanted the children to grow up together, Kong added without speculating further on his client’s motives.

Shigeta hired the Thai surrogates before the ban on foreigners. Police said he paid them between $9,300 and $12,500 each.

Thailand’s rewriting of its surrogacy laws sparked a series of legal tussles, including a 14-month custody war between a same-sex couple and a Thai surrogate who was eventually forced to give up the baby girl.

In another high-profile case, a Thai surrogate lost a court battle to bring back a baby after learning the Australian father was a convicted paedophile.

Sam Everingham, director of the Australia-based consultancy Families Through Surrogacy, said Shigeta’s case was an “abuse of surrogacy” services that had helped give the industry a bad name.</s>A Thai court on Tuesday said it ruled in favor of a wealthy Japanese man who had fathered 13 surrogate children in Thailand, naming him their legal parent and sole guardian.

The case harks back to late 2014, when Thai police said they had found 13 babies fathered by a Japanese national with nine Thai surrogate mothers. The children were taken to foster homes and the father has petitioned for custody since early 2015.

The man had his sperm fertilize donor eggs, which were then planted in the wombs of the surrogate mothers in 2013, according to a press statement given by the court. No details were given where the donor eggs were from.

The scandal at the time shone an international spotlight on Thailand's largely unregulated surrogacy business, prompting authorities to crack down on clinics with nationwide inspections and later to ban commercial surrogacy.

The Japanese man was given custody of the 13 children on Tuesday largely due to his financial and professional stability, and he was found to have no links to human trafficking, the court statement said.

Growing up with a biological parent will also be in the children's best interests, the court added.

"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," the court said in a statement.

"Therefore, it is ruled that all the 13 children are legal children of the petitioner...and the petitioner is their sole guardian."

The court gave no further details about the man, but said he plans to raise the 13 children in Japan where he lives, adding that he had previously raised his other surrogate children in Cambodia and Japan.

When the case was first lodged in 2014, Thai police had said the man was 24 years old.

The man's Thai lawyer Kong Suriyamonthon said his client plans to raise the 13 children, who are aged around 4, in Japan.

When asked why the man would want so many children at the same time, Kong said: "He has personal and business reasons. He was born in a big family, so he wants his children to grow up together."

Thailand was rocked by several surrogacy scandals in 2014, including allegations that an Australian couple had abandoned their Down Syndrome baby with his Thai birth mother taking only his healthy twin sister back to Australia with them.

Thailand passed a law banning commercial surrogacy in 2015 as a result, forcing clinics to move to Cambodia, where it was also later banned, and then Laos.</s>A court in Thailand on Tuesday named a wealthy Japanese man the legal parent and sole guardian of 13 surrogate children he fathered, Reuters reported.

The case of the surrogate babies came to light in 2014 when the police said they found 16 babies the man fathered with surrogate mothers in Thailand, BBC reported.

The 28-year-old son of a wealthy Japanese entrepreneur had petitioned the court for custody in 2015, and appeared via video conference to testify in the case earlier this month, AP reported.

The court gave the man “sole parent” rights after the Thai surrogates forfeited their rights. The court did not reveal the man’s name during the hearing.

“For the happiness and opportunities which the 13 children will receive from their biological father, who does not have a history of bad behaviour, the court rules that all 13 born from surrogacy to be legal children of the plaintiff,” Bangkok’s Central Juvenile Court said. The man was awarded custody of his other three children in 2015.

The court accepted lawyer Kong Suriyamontol’s argument that the man simply wanted a very large family, and that with his wealth, he will be able to look after the children well, BBC reported. Thai officials also told the court they visited Cambodia and Japan and found the man had enough facilities to bring up the 13 children.

The children are still in state custody, and the man is in talks with the Social Development and Human Security Ministry about the next steps. His lawyer said the man plans to raise the 13 children – all four-years-old – in Japan.

After details of this case, which came to be known as the “baby factory” case, were revealed in 2014, the man was investigated by Interpol for human trafficking.

His Bangkok apartment was raided and the police found nine surrogate babies, nannies and a pregnant surrogate mother.

The scandal also led authorities to crack down on Thailand’s unregulated surrogacy business. In 2014, there were also allegations that an Australian couple abandoned their Down Syndrome baby with his Thai birth mother, taking only his healthy twin sister back to Australia.

In 2015, commercial surrogacy was banned in the country.</s>A wealthy Japanese man was on Tuesday granted “sole parent” rights to 13 children he fathered through Thai surrogate mothers, in a court ruling that paves the way for him to take them to Japan.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, became the centre of a “baby factory” scandal in 2014 after Thai police found a plush Bangkok apartment packed with infants under the care of 24-hour nannies.

A probe later found he had fathered 19 children in total, 13 surrogate babies living in Thailand and six others living in Cambodia and Japan, according to an official from Thailand's Social Development and Welfare Department.

Four of the six children living in Cambodia and Japan were from Thai surrogates.

Shigeta's bizarre case threw a spotlight on the kingdom's unregulated rent-a-womb industry, prompting authorities to bar foreigners in 2015 from paying for Thai surrogates.

Shigeta, reportedly the son of a Japanese IT tycoon, left the country in the wake of the scandal and has never directly explained why he fathered so many children.

But he later took Thailand's Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to court to seek custody of the children.

On Tuesday a Bangkok court granted him legal rights to take the children, saying he had ample money to care for them and had prepared nurses and nannies at a safe residence in Japan.

“For the happiness and opportunities the 13 children will receive from their biological father — who does not have a history of bad behaviour — the court rules them to be the plaintiff's legal children,” the Central Juvenile Court said in a statement which did not mention Shigeta by name for privacy reasons.

Shigeta, who did not attend the trial, was deemed “sole parent” of the children after the Thai surrogates had signed away their rights, the court added.

His lawyer Kong Suriyamontol said he would contact Thai authorities about the next steps to transfer the children from state custody, adding that the timeline would depend on the “readiness” of the youngsters, most of whom are aged around four.

Thai officials had visited Shigeta's homes in Japan as well as in Cambodia and deemed the children would be able to adapt to new surroundings.

“The foster homes will seek my authorisation to release the children to their father's custody... it won't take more than 10 days,” Vitat Tachaboon of the Social Development and Welfare Department told reporters.

Shigeta's mother has also been visiting the children in Thailand and “they have got used to her”, he added.

Shigeta hired the Thai surrogates before the ban on foreigners. Police said he paid them between $9,300 and $12,500 each.

Thailand's rewriting of its surrogacy laws sparked a series of legal tussles, including a 14-month custody war between a same-sex couple and a Thai surrogate who was eventually forced to give up the baby girl.

Another high-profile case saw a Thai surrogate lose a court battle to bring back a baby after learning the Australian father was a convicted paedophile.

Sam Everingham, director of the Australia-based consultancy Families Through Surrogacy, said Shigeta's case was an “abuse of surrogacy” services that had helped give the controversial industry a bad name.

After Thailand clamped down on the trade surrogacy agencies quickly migrated to neighbouring Cambodia, which followed suit and barred the industry in 2016.

In recent months there have been signs the business is growing in Laos, an opaque communist country with no restrictions on surrogacy.

Some surrogacy agencies are now offering to carry out the embryo transfer in Laos and then provide pregnancy care for the surrogate in Thailand, a wealthier country with vastly superior medical facilities.</s>A WEALTHY JAPANESE man has been granted “sole parent” rights to 13 children he fathered through Thai surrogate mothers, in a court ruling that paves the way for him to take them in Japan.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, became the centre of a “baby factory” scandal in 2014 after Thai police linked him via DNA to nine infants found under the care of 24-hour nannies in a plush Bangkok apartment.

The children were estimated to be between two weeks and two years old at the time and have since been cared for by the Thai state, while another four were later deemed to have also been fathered by him.

The extraordinary discovery threw a spotlight on the kingdom’s then unregulated surrogacy industry, prompting authorities to bar foreigners in 2015 from paying for Thai surrogates.

Shigeta, reportedly the son of a Japanese IT tycoon, left the country in the wake of the scandal and has never directly explained why he fathered so many children. But he later took Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to court to seek custody of the children.

A Bangkok court today granted him legal rights to take the children, saying he had ample money to care for them and had prepared nurses and nannies at a safe residence in Japan.

“For the happiness and opportunities the 13 children will receive from their biological father — who does not have a history of bad behaviour — the court rules them to be the plaintiff’s legal children,” the Central Juvenile Court said in a statement which did not mention Shigeta by name for privacy reasons.

Shigeta, who did not attend the trial, was deemed “sole parent” of the children after the Thai surrogates had signed away their rights, the court added.

His lawyer said he would contact the Social Welfare Ministry about the next steps to transfer the children from state custody, adding that the timeline would depend on the “readiness” of the youngsters, most of whom are aged around four.

“There might be a need for the (state) shelter officials to stay with them for a while to avoid abrupt changes,” lawyer Kong Suriyamontol told reporters outside the court.

The Social Welfare Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

Shigeta “was born in a big family and wanted the children to grow up together”, Kong added without speculating further on his client’s motives.

Shigeta hired the Thai surrogates before the ban on foreigners. Police said he paid them between $9,300 (about €7,500) and $12,500 (about €10,100) each.

Thailand’s rewriting of its surrogacy laws sparked a series of legal tussles, including a 14-month custody war between a same-sex couple and a Thai surrogate who was eventually forced to give up the baby girl.

Another high-profile case saw a Thai surrogate lose a court battle to bring back a baby after learning the Australian father was a convicted paedophile.

Sam Everingham, director of the Australia-based consultancy Families Through Surrogacy, said Shigeta’s case was an “abuse of surrogacy” services that had helped give the controversial industry a bad name.

After Thailand clamped down on the trade surrogacy agencies quickly migrated to neighbouring Cambodia, which followed suit and barred the industry in 2016.

In recent months there have been signs the business is growing in Laos, an opaque communist country with no restrictions on surrogacy.

Some surrogacy agencies are now offering services to carry out the embryo transfer in Laos and then provide pregnancy care for the surrogate in Thailand, a wealthier country with vastly superior medical facilities.

Read: Unicef says ‘world is failing newborns’ as global baby mortality rates remain ‘alarmingly high’

Read: Great Ormond Street may keep donations from scandal-hit Presidents Club dinner</s>The Japanese millionaire heir who won custody of 13 children he fathered through surrogate mothers in Thailand had a dream of having '1,000 babies'.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, had hatched a plan to produce a big family, after which he would run in an election and win by letting his children vote for him, Japanese media reports.

Shigeta caused a 'baby factory' scandal in 2014 after Thai police found nine infants living with their nannies in an upmarket Bangkok apartment.

A DNA test found that Shigeta was the biological father of the nine children, as well as four more babies born by surrogates in Thailand.

Mariam Kukunashvili, founder of the Thai clinic that recruited some of the surrogate mothers, said in 2014 that Shigeta told her 'he wanted 10 to 15 babies a year and that he wanted to continue the baby-making process until he's dead.'

He would achieve this by freezing his 'high-quality sperm' and keeping it in his own home.

Ms Kukunashvili said Shigeta also told her that he wanted to run in an election and win by using his big family for voting.

Shigeta later sued Thailand's Ministry of Social Development and Human Security for custody of the children, and won this week after the Thai surrogates signed away their rights.

As he comes from a wealthy family, he has ample money and has prepared nurses and nannies to care for the children in Japan, the court ruling stated.

'For the happiness and opportunities which the 13 children will receive from their biological father, who does not have a history of bad behaviour, the court rules that all 13 born from surrogacy to be legal children of the plaintiff,' Bangkok's Central Juvenile Court said in a statement.

Shigeta is the oldest son of Yasumitsu Shigeta, founder of Japanese telecom and insurance company Hikari Tsushin.

As a major shareholder in the company, thee 28-year-old earns millions of dollars a year in dividends.

The Shigeta case threw the spotlight on Thailand's then unregulated rent-a-womb industry, and helped push authorities to bar foreigners from paying for Thai surrogates in 2015.

Surrogacy agencies quickly migrated to neighbouring Cambodia, who followed suit and barred the industry in 2016.

In recent months there have been signs the industry has shifted to Laos, an opaque communist country with no restrictions on surrogacy.

Some surrogacy agencies are now offering services to carry out the embryo transfer in Laos and then provide pregnancy care for the surrogate in Thailand, a wealthier country with vastly superior medical facilities.</s>BANGKOK — A Thai court on Tuesday granted legal custody of 13 babies carried by surrogate mothers to a Japanese millionaire who is their biological father, reviving a bizarre tale that captured tabloid headlines four years ago.

Mitsutoki Shigeta’s case raised eyebrows in 2014 when police raided a Bangkok condominium and found nine babies and nine nannies living in unfurnished rooms. It was determined that Shigeta had fathered the children using Thai surrogate mothers. The case helped usher in a Thai law prohibiting commercial surrogacy for foreign clients.

On Tuesday, Bangkok’s Central Juvenile and Family Court gave Shigeta sole legal custody of the children, saying he had showed plans to care for the children and is financially stable. It also noted that the children were born before the new law, and that the surrogate mothers had signed documents waiving their custody rights.

Shigeta is the son of an owner of a listed Japanese company and earns over 100 million baht ($3.18 million) in annual dividends, according to the court. It said Shigeta had opened bank accounts in Singapore for all 13 children.

The court said that DNA evidence confirmed Shigeta is the children’s’ father, and that he plans to send the kids to an international school and has bought a piece of land to house them next to a large park in central Tokyo, where they will be looked after by a sufficient number of nurses and nannies.

Reports in Thai media in 2014 said he had fathered 16 children in Thailand, but the court’s decision mentioned only 13.

According to the court, Shigeta has taken care of other minors, born from surrogacy, and raised them in Japan and Cambodia, where they were well looked after. The children that he cared for in Japan now all have Japanese citizenship, it said.

It is unclear where the children born in Cambodia are now. Cambodia inherited much of the surrogacy for hire business for foreigners after Thailand banned it, but later passed its own law against it.

The court said Shigeta did not show behaviour linking him to human trafficking, which had been a concern when his story was originally revealed.</s>A Thai court has ruled in favour of a wealthy Japanese man who fathered 13 surrogate children through Thai mothers, naming him their legal parent and sole guardian.

The case of 28-year-old businessman Mitsutoki Shigeta harks back to late 2014, when Thai police said they had found 13 babies fathered by a Japanese national with nine Thai surrogate mothers.

The children were taken to foster homes and the father has petitioned for custody since early 2015.

The man had his sperm fertilise donor eggs, which were then planted in the wombs of the surrogate mothers in 2013, according to a press statement given by the court.

No details were given where the donor eggs were from.



There are only scant details of the identity of Mitsutoki Shigeta, who did not attend the trial. 

 

Mr Shigeta had previously been identified by several Japanese and Thai media publications as the son of Japanese technology billionaire Yasumitsu Shigeta.

 

He is believed to be unmarried and has already made plans for the children's future and well-being, including hiring nannies to care for the children in Japan.

 

Japan Times reported in 2014 that after his case made headlines, a group of prominent lawyers sent letters warning Japan's mainstream media not to report Shigeta or the names of his family members.

The scandal at the time shone an international spotlight on Thailand's largely unregulated surrogacy business, prompting authorities to crack down on clinics with nationwide inspections and later to ban commercial surrogacy.

The Japanese man was given custody of the 13 children on Tuesday, largely due to his financial and professional stability, and he was found to have no links to human trafficking, the court statement said.

Growing up with a biological parent will also be in the children's best interests, the court added.

"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 ($4.01 million) from a single company in a year, which shows the petitioner has professional stability and an ample income to raise all the children," the court said in a statement.

"Therefore, it is ruled that all the 13 children are legal children of the petitioner … and the petitioner is their sole guardian."

The court gave no further details about the man, but said he plans to raise the 13 children, all aged about four, in Japan where he lives, adding that he had previously raised other surrogate children in Cambodia and Japan.

When the case was first lodged in 2014, Thai police had said the man was 24-years-old.

When asked why the man would want so many children at the same time, his Thai lawyer Kong Suriyamonthon said: "He has personal and business reasons."

Thailand was rocked by several surrogacy scandals in 2014, including allegations that an Australian couple had abandoned their Down syndrome baby with his Thai birth mother, taking only his twin sister back to Australia with them.

Thailand passed a law banning commercial surrogacy in 2015 as a result, forcing clinics to move to Cambodia, where it was also later banned, and then Laos.
A court in Thailand awards a Japanese man paternity rights over 13 of his children from Thai surrogate mothers.