A Bangkok court has awarded a wealthy Japanese man “sole parent” rights to 13 children he fathered through surrogate mothers, paving the way for him to take custody of them all after dismissing fears he was involved in human trafficking.

Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, the son of a rich IT tycoon, became the focus of a “baby factory” scandal in 2014 after the Thai police discovered he had fathered nine infants, aged between two weeks and two years old, who were being cared for by nannies in an upmarket Bangkok apartment.

The children, along with four others also fathered by Mr Shigeta, were placed under the care of the Thai state while Interpol investigated whether it was a case of human trafficking.

The police said at the time that he paid the surrogates between $9,300 and $12,500 each to carry his children.

Mr Shigeta left the country as the potential scandal unfolded, but took Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to court to fight for custody of the children.

Through his lawyer, he maintained that he simply wanted to have a large family and that he had the financial means to look after them.