TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have re-arrested the former director of a disbanded non-profit organization (NPO) for allegedly mediating an illicit organ transplant in Cambodia.
According to Nippon News Network (July 28) Hiromichi Kikuchi, the former head of the NPO, pocketed the patient’s cash to pay off his own debts.
Kikuchi is suspected of illegally facilitating a kidney transplant last year. Kikuchi allegedly introduced a male patient to surgeons in Cambodia and received $40,000 in cash for arranging the procedure.
While Kikuchi claimed the money was collected under the pretext of a “reward” for the local Cambodian doctors, investigators believe he actually siphoned the funds to pay off his own personal debts.
The suspect was already in police custody, having been previously arrested for brokering a Cambodian kidney transplant for a separate male patient in exchange for cash.
Police have withheld whether Kikuchi has admitted to or denied the latest charges.
