North-Mahchangolhi MP Mariya Ahmed Didi has accused President Abdulla Yameen of lying at the ruling party’s ceremony on Sunday night held to hand him the party ticket for September’s election.

At Sunday’s ceremony, President Abdulla Yameen said that the government of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had sold Maldives’ largest airport to Indian company GMR, resulting in the country having to pay USD 400 million.

At a press conference on Monday, Mariya, who is also the spokesperson of opposition coalition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, said that MDP’s government had only leased the airport for an extended period of time in order to develop the airport without it costing the average Maldivian citizen.

She said that the cost on Maldivians was incurred after the contract with GMR was terminated against the agreement, adding that it also resulted in a reduced number of foreign investments into the country.

“Because of the attorney general (Azima Shakoor) saying ‘ab initio’ and recommending to terminate the contract, over USD 300 million were taken from the pockets of Maldivians. Because of that Maldives lost investor confidence and foreign investors refused to come for years.”

Mariya further said that while President Yameen boasted of investing USD 100 million for the airport’s development, he was only able to build a runway the same size as the USD 30 million runway built during President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s rule.