Joint Opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has no intention of slandering the police service, says his spokesperson Mariya Ahmed Didi.

Mariya said this at a press conference on Tuesday after the police announced that they have launched an investigation over Solih’s alleged slanderous statement at an island campaign event.

Police spokesperson Shifan has said that it was illegal to spread misinformation regarding the police service and that they will not allow anyone to deliberately mislead the public.

This is regarding Solih’s recitation of a story relayed to him by someone else about a sinking boat that police had allegedly refused to help because the captain supported the opposition.

At the campaign event, Solih said: “The boat started sinking due to the rough weather. He called the police after the water level reached his chest, and told them the boat was sinking and asked for assistance. He received another call shortly, asking whether he supported Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. He repeated that his boat was sinking and that he cannot talk about that at such a time. He said he will vote for justice. Police called a while later and informed him that they cannot send a speedboat to him. That they will go to the scene if they can arrange a speedboat.”

At Tuesday’s press conference, his spokesperson Mariya expressed concern that the police are investigating a presidential candidate’s statement 'while there are bigger cases'.

She also noted that President Abdulla Yameen had accused the police service of being extremely corrupt after arresting his then-vice president Ahmed Adeeb, and she asked if the police service was investigating that.