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)