PHNOM PENH, June 13 (Xinhua) -- An Australian nurse, along with two Cambodian accomplices, stood trial on Tuesday for operating commercial surrogacy services in Cambodia.
Tammy Davis-Charles, 49, director of Fertility Solutions PGD clinic, and two Cambodian helpers -- a 35-year-old female nurse and a 28-year-old private company male employee -- were arrested in November 2016 in Phnom Penh.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court's judge Sor Lina said the group was charged 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.
The trio appeared in court in orange prison uniform on Tuesday morning. Answered the judge's questions, Tammy said she operated the clinic since early 2014 till she was arrested.
She had arranged for 23 Cambodian women to carry babies for 18 Australian couples and five American couples.
"In average, we charged a foreign couple 50,000 U.S. dollars for surrogacy services," she told the judge, admitting that she paid only 10,000 U.S. dollars to Cambodian women to bear pregnancies on their behalf.
According to Tammy, all born babies had exited Cambodia for their biological parents.
During Tuesday's trial, two surrogate mothers also testified against the trio.
Cambodia banned commercial surrogacy in November 2016, describing the surrogacy as a form of human "trading."
