2023-04-02

KYIV - Surrogacy is a growing business worldwide. 

Over the last years, Ukraine has become one of the leading providers in this field of business. The market leader in Ukraine a company called Biotexcom. During the last six months, an international research team from WELT (Germany), POLITICO (USA) and Newsweek Polska (Poland) investigated the companies’ business. They reporter team uncovered dubious practices the company is involved in – that potentially stand for the whole market of surrogacy.

These practices include mix-ups of embryos and even children. The reporter team found about a dozen of parents that made bad experiences with the company and interviewed them. They also spoke to investigators in Ukraine who describe how they investigated Biotexcom’s business – and how and why the head of the company could not be convicted due to his influential contacts into Ukrainian high-ranking politics.

Team members

Dmytro Drabyk

Dmytro Drabyk is a Ukrainian journalist and documentarian with 20 years of experience in mass media.

Ilya Gridneff

Ilya Gridneff is a freelance reporter in Brussels and has experience in working for POLITICO Europe. 

Ilya Gridneff

Anette Dowideit

Anette Dowideit is Axel Springer’s head of international investigations of WELT group in Germany.

Anette Dowideit

Alfred Hackensberger

Alfred Hackensberger is a freelance reporter working for WELT (based in Morocco).

Alfred Hackensberger

Emily Schultheis

Emily Schultheis is a freelance reporter working for Politico.

 

Emily Schultheis

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