TOKYO - The de facto head of a Japanese nonprofit organization and two other men were arrested Tuesday for allegedly brokering an organ transplant in Cambodia in exchange for compensation in violation of a relevant law, in the first case of paid organ transplant brokering overseas.
Hiromichi Kikuchi, the de facto head of the nonprofit organization, 66, of Yokohama, was already serving an eight-month prison term after exhausting his appeals against a 2023 conviction for brokering organ transplants in Belarus without government permission.
Under Japanese law, organs from brain-dead or deceased donors may be used for transplants with the health minister's approval. However, the sale of organs and paid brokering are prohibited.
The nonprofit organization was established in March 2024 while Kikuchi was out on bail and recruited people seeking transplants online.
His son, Mitsuru Kikuchi, 42, and the organization's director, Takaki Ando, 66, were also arrested.
The three men are accused of conspiring to arrange a living-donor kidney transplant at a medical facility in Cambodia for a Tokyo man in his 70s and charging him about 12 million yen ($74,100) in doctors' fees and commissions. The money is believed to have been intended to pay off Kikuchi's debts.
Police did not disclose whether the three admitted or denied the allegations.
According to the police, after Ando responded to inquiries from the man, who had found the organization's website, Kikuchi recommended that he undergo the procedure overseas, saying, "The surgery will be performed by a team of experienced Chinese doctors."
Mitsuru Kikuchi accompanied the man to Cambodia for the surgery.
The Metropolitan Police Department suspects the three men brokered other organ transplants.
