Nivell Rayda – The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it had withdrawn its defamation claim against a member of the Judicial Commission, the body charged with overseeing the court system.

Peter Kurniawan, a lawyer representing the court, said that Suparman Marzuki had issued an apology during a closed meeting between the two institutions on Tuesday, following which the court immediately retracted its complaint. "We have withdrawn our police report, thus ending the dispute between the Supreme Court and Suparman Marzuki," the lawyer said.

Suparman, Peter said, had renounced his remarks, published by a number of local media outlets, alleging that prospective judges need only pay Supreme Court officials Rp 300 million ($35,000) to secure a position, and an additional Rp 275 million to become head of one of Jakarta's district courts.

Earlier this month, Suparman denied making such remarks, saying he was only responding to a question posed by a journalist about such practices. He claimed he only said that he was familiar with the allegations, and that people had reported it to the Judicial Commission.

"Supreme Court Chief Justice [Harifin Tumpa] welcomed the apology," Peter said. "Because we withdrew the complaint, all police investigations into the matter were automatically halted."

On July 15, the Supreme Court announced it was ready to settle the dispute out of court, just days after filing a report with the National Police.

"The most important thing is for the public to know that there is no such thing [bribery in the court]," Harifin said previously. "If the Judicial Commission has information [regarding bribery] please show it to us and we will prosecute those involved."

Harifin previously acknowledged that court officials had made "false promises" like those alleged in the past, but the people involved were investigated and dismissed from the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission have for years been engaged in a battle over which body has the authority to punish rogue judges. The Supreme Court argues that the Judicial Commission has too much power, while the Judicial Commission claims the court is not serious about handing out sanctions.