Three arrested in Japan for brokering kidney transplant in Cambodia for W230m

Japanese authorities have arrested suspects accused of brokering overseas organ transplants for profit.

Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department arrested three people Tuesday on charges of violating Japan's Organ Transplant Law, including Kikuchi Hiromichi, 66, former chairman of the Intractable Disease Patient Support Association, and Ando Takaki, 66, head of the International Medical Consultation Office, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun and other outlets.

The three are accused of arranging a kidney transplant in Cambodia for a Japanese man in his 70s who suffered from kidney disease, and receiving 12.36 million yen ($76,000) in the process.

Investigators found that the patient had deposited 12.36 million yen into an account held in Kikuchi's name, ostensibly as fees and a gratuity for the surgeon, but that most of the money went toward paying off Kikuchi's personal debts.

Separately, the patient paid a Chinese coordinator in Cambodia about 25 million yen (about 230 million won) in medical expenses. The total paid came to roughly 37 million yen (about 340 million won).

Police believe the transplant took place in January at Preah Ket Mealea Hospital in Phnom Penh, a facility under Cambodia's Ministry of National Defense. A Chinese doctor performed the operation, and the kidney donor is believed to have been a Cambodian woman in her 20s.

Kikuchi faces additional allegations of brokering illegal overseas organ transplants on multiple occasions. He was arrested in 2023 on charges of arranging an unauthorized organ transplant in Belarus, received a confirmed sentence of eight months in prison in November last year, and began serving that sentence in January.

Metropolitan police are expanding their investigation amid suspicions that the suspects may have arranged overseas organ transplants in Cambodia and elsewhere for other patients as well.

Japan's Organ Transplant Law, enacted in 1997, prohibits receiving financial gain in exchange for providing or brokering organs. Violations carry a penalty of up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 5 million yen.

A chronic shortage of organ donors is widely cited as the backdrop for the continued cases of Japanese patients seeking transplants abroad. A Japanese kidney transplant specialist told TBS Television that Japan has far fewer organ donors than other developed nations, and that many patients die while waiting for a transplant.

Japan recorded 1.13 organ donors per 1 million people in 2024, far below the United States at 49.7 and South Korea at 7.68.