Retail magnate charged with trying to purchase kidney

Jul 11, 2008, 0:45 GMT

Singapore - A retail-chain magnate became the first person in Singapore to be charged with trying to purchase a kidney, news reports said Friday.

Tang Wee Sung planned to pay 300,000 Singapore dollars (206,000 US dollars) to secure a kidney from an Indonesian man through alleged broker Wang Chin Sing, the court was told.

The diabetic Tang, 56, went on dialysis a year ago. His health was further complicated by high blood pressure and heart problems, putting him at a higher risk of death than most diabetics, The Straits Times said. Without a transplant, his chances of surviving five years were considered slim.

The court on Thursday scheduled Tang's next appearance for July 21.

The transaction was halted when authorities arrested the organ seller before the transplant took place.

Tang was also accused of lying to a transplant ethics committee that the donor was a distant relative and he had not paid to receive the organ.

Tang could be fined up to 10,000 Singapore dollars (6,896 US dollars), sentenced to a year in jail, or both.

An estimated 300 people from Singapore have travelled overseas to purchase an organ for transplant and have the operation abroad, mostly in India and China.

Indonesian Sulaiman Damanik, 26, who was willing to sell Tang his kidney, was freed Saturday after three weeks in jail.

Wang was charged Thursday for acting as the middleman not only in Tang's case but for another Indonesian donor and recipient. The operation took place on March 17 in Singapore.