The capital has been informed of suspicions against the co-owner of a private reproductive medicine clinic and its manager, who attempted to illegally transfer a newborn girl to a couple from China. This was reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office.
According to the investigation, the Chinese couple arrived in Ukraine to take advantage of a surrogacy program at a clinic in the capital. In May of this year, the surrogate mother gave birth to twins for them - a boy and a girl.
After genetic testing, it turned out that the man was only the biological father of the boy. Despite this, the clinic representatives tried to get the couple recognized as the parents of both children through the court, so that they could also give them the girl.
In the end, the Chinese returned home with only their son, and the clinic managers left the girl with a nanny in a rented apartment in Kyiv, awaiting the court's decision.
The prosecutor's office emphasized that in the absence of parents or legal guardians, the child should have been officially placed under state care. However, representatives of the medical institution did not do this, instead trying to give the baby to foreigners who paid for the birth of two children.
The co-owner of the clinic and its manager were notified of suspicion of an unfinished attempt to traffic a minor child and illegal intermediary activities regarding adoption (Part 3 of Article 15, Part 3 of Article 149, Part 2 of Article 169 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The newborn girl is currently in a children's institution, while law enforcement officers are identifying her biological parents.
The sanction of the article provides for up to 15 years in prison.
