PHNOM PENH, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian court on Monday charged an Australian nurse, along with two Cambodians, for running a commercial surrogacy clinic here, a police officer said.
Tammy Alayne Charles, 49, director of Fertility Solutions PGD clinic, and two Cambodian helpers - a 35-year-old female nurse and a 28-year-old male civil servant - were arrested on Friday evening at their rented house in the western suburb of Phnom Penh.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court's deputy prosecutor Seng Heang charged them on Monday afternoon with "acting as intermediaries in surrogacy and engaging in falsifying documents."
"Under the charges, the trio could face up to two years in prison if convicted," said Police Colonel Keo Thea, chief of Phnom Penh Municipal Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police.
He said the Australian nurse has operated the surrogacy clinic in Cambodia for more than a year, moving from Thailand after the Thai government imposed anti-surrogacy laws last year.
According to Keo Thea, Tammy charged foreign couples 50,000 U.S. dollars for surrogacy services, but paid Cambodian women between 10,000 U.S. dollars and 12,000 U.S. dollars to bear pregnancies on their behalf.
He said Tammy confessed that she had arranged for 23 Cambodian women to carry babies through her clinic, and to date, about six babies had been born.
The arrest came nearly a month after the Cambodian government declared a ban on commercial surrogacy in the country, describing the surrogacy as a form of human "trading."
Experts estimate that about 50 surrogacy agencies and brokers are operating in Cambodia, many of which moved their businesses here after countries in Asia, including Thailand, India and Nepal, have outlawed the surrogacy service.
