Latief let off gambling charge

Latief let off gambling charge

MALANG, East Java: The local police have decided not to prosecute senior East Java politician Latief Pudjosakti on gambling charges but he will required to testify in connection with the raid on a gambling den.

Malang Police Chief Lt. Col. Makbul Padmanagara said that Latief had been present at the house at the time of the raid but that he had been there to pay a visit to the sick parents of the house owners.

This, Makbul added, was corroborated by the house owners, Antara reported.

Latief, the deputy speaker of the East Java Legislative Council, has been embroiled in a dispute within the Indonesian Democratic Party, to which he belongs. The news that he was caught at a gambling den has further damaged his standing.

Latief has insisted that he had no knowledge at all that the house was being used as a gambling den. He said the house owner was a personal friend of his and that he had gone there to see the sick parents.

Latief will, however, be required to testify in the trial of eight people who were arrested during the raid, police said. (emb)