Gambling lord faces a year in the cooler
Gambling lord faces a year in the cooler
JAKARTA (JP): The North Jakarta District court prosecutor,
H.P.W. Soekewi, yesterday demanded that defendant Taslim Bianti,
a gambling lord whose den was closed down in June, be sent to
jail.
"I urge the honorable judge to sentence the defendant to one
year in jail for operating an illicit gambling business," she
said.
Taslim and his 20 employees were among 238 people apprehended
on June 11 at the aptly named Lucky Plaza building on Jl. Pluit
Indah Jaya by a 40-strong Operation Cleansing team from the
Jakarta Chapter of the Agency for the Support of National
Stability (Bakorstanasda Jaya).
Of the total, five are Malaysians, one a Hong Kong national
and another Taiwanese. The remaining 231 suspects are
Indonesians, mostly of Chinese descent. Included among them are
two newspaper reporters and two lawyers.
Police later freed 56 of them, including the journalists and
lawyers, saying that they were merely onlookers, and had not
taken part in the gambling activities at the time of the raid.
Police later released the remaining gamblers, including five
pregnant women, on bail. The 22 people whom police believe to
have been operators of the gambling den are still being detained.
City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochamad Hindarto said earlier
that to anticipate the matter he had assigned the special
babinkamtibmas police patrol to keep tabs on the gamblers who
were released on bail.
According to the existing law, a gambler caught red handed
faces a maximum imprisonment of four years or a maximum fine of
Rp 10 million (US$4,600) if convicted. A person found illegally
operating a gambling place faces a maximum jail term of 10 years
and a fine of Rp 25 million.
During the session led by Presiding Judge Surti Hari Pramono,
prosecutor Soekewi also requested that six of Taslim's
accomplices, Syafrizal, a cashier, Suharno, a cashier's
assistant, Johan Pek Mo, the den's supervisor, and three
servants, Irwanto, Eng Hok An and Lucas Siwu, be sentenced to
five months imprisonment.
Meanwhile in another session prosecutor Charles Mindamora
urged Presiding Judge Thomas Sumardi to sentence Tamsil's 13
other assistants, Riyadi and Eddy Ak Yat to seven months
imprisonment each, and Tjau Liang, She Lie, Ah Wa, Beni Jaya, Ali
Akbar, Kho Kim Hong, Khow Hok Lie, Samidin Santoso and Hadi
Wijaya to five months.
Prosecutor Charles also demanded that Tati Suryati and Esther
Irawati, two women who began working for Taslim a day before the
raid, to four months.
In the third session Prosecutor Soejitno also examined Guan
An, the owner of the 400 square meter room at Lucky Plaza which
was rented by Taslim.
Guan An confessed before the court that he had been renting
the place to Taslim since May 25. He charged Taslim Rp 200,000
per day.
Judge Surti adjourned the session till Sept. 12, at which time
the prosecutor will request sentencing. (03)