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Democratic Party lawmaker Ramadhan Pohan says he stands by his statement accusing a mining company at the center of dispute in Bima of being Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie’s cash machine.

“I never withdrew my statement or apologized to Ical,” he said on Friday, referring to Aburizal by his nickname.

Aburizal said on Thursday that he would withdraw a defamation complaint against Ramadhan, who is also the Democrats’ deputy secretary general, after the latter apologized for his remark.

The spat arose from remarks made by Ramadhan to the Jawa Pos News Network on Jan. 6, in which he linked Aburizal to Sumber Mineral Nusantara, the mining firm whose exploration activities in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, sparked massive protests and led to the torching of the district chief’s office.

“SMN serves as an ATM for Aburizal and his cronies, via the Bima district head,” he said. “Not for the Golkar Party, though, because not everyone in Golkar likes Aburizal.”

Aburizal said he had responded with the report to teach Ramadhan a “political lesson.”

“He can’t go around slandering others in politics,” he said. “But because he has apologized, albeit in a roundabout way, I believe I should accept his apology and retract the complaint.”

Ramadhan’s lawyer, Patra M. Zen, went to the National Police headquarters on Friday and said he found that the complaint had not been withdrawn.

But Ramadhan said he was ready to face any legal move from Aburizal.

“I will fight whoever disrupts President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s government. I am surprised with the information spread by Aburizal’s men that I have apologized. I have never met Ical nor spoken to him,” he said.

On Tuesday, Ramadhan said that he had offered a conditional apology to Aburizal, but not for his remark.

“He’s older than I am, so I apologize if I offended his feelings,” he said. “But as a politician, I am beholden to the people, and it was the people’s voice that I was representing, so I won’t apologize for that.”

Fifty-three people were arrested during a protest held in Bima district in December against a mining exploration permit issued in 2010 SMN.

Additional reporting by Suara Pembaruan