Japanese Arrested in China Over Organ Transplants

Beijing, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)–Hiroyuki Nagase, a Japanese man who heads an international organ transplant support center in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, has been arrested on charges of illegal business activities, China’s Public Security Ministry told Jiji Press on Tuesday.

The spokesman’s office of the ministry said in writing that the authorities have determined that Nagase violated Health Ministry regulations that ban organ trading. Earlier this year, the public security authorities of the province notified Japan’s consulate general in Shenyang that a Japanese had been held in custody.

As prosecutors in Shenyang gave consent to Nagase’s arrest, he is certain to be indicted.

The Public Security Ministry’s office said that Nagase, who was connected to a Japanese company in Shenyang, has been providing Japanese people with transplant services in China since 2004 by giving information on the Web in the name of the center.

Nagase’s business activities deviated from those he reported to Chinese authorities, the office said.

In July 2006, the Chinese Health Ministry implemented rules prohibiting the acquisition of improper profits from organ trading or transplants. New legislation was enforced in May this year to tighten controls on transplants.

The Chinese authorities claim that Nagase’s center brokered deals on organ transplants in Shenyang and Shanghai for over 200 Japanese.

Before the arrest, Nagase told Jiji Press that he could have no contacts with the sources of organs and that he had never engaged in organ trading.

He explained that 90 pct of organ donors in China are condemned prisoners and that to earn foreign currency, hospitals prefer transplants for foreigners to those for Chinese.

Nagase entered China on Sept. 11 from the Philippines, where he was involved in transplant-related activities. He was put in custody in Shanghai and then transferred to Shenyang.

The public security authorities have held other people in the case, including at least one Chinese.END

(c) 2007 Jiji Press English News Service. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.