The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has rejected Transparency International's score for the Maldives in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
With a score of 39 in the index, the Maldives ranked 91st out of 182 countries in 2025.
"... these countries continue to score on the lower range of the index, with much room for improvement," Transparency International said about the Maldives.
Its local chapter, Transparency Maldives, said the score reflects ongoing governance challenges, including the centralization of executive power, shrinking civic space, and weakened independence of oversight institutions.
"From politicized appointments to opaque decision-making in state-owned enterprises, systemic vulnerabilities continue to undermine public trust and accountability," Transparency Maldives said.
In a statement last night (February 10), the ACC did not comment on the recommendations by the Transparency Maldives and suggested that the CPI was not an accurate measure of corruption.
The commission said the study is based on perception, so the score and ranking are also based on perception.
The ACC cited as the biggest problem that the sources used to compile the score were fewer than those used by many other countries.
According to the ACC, the country’s score was based on just three sources. They are Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment and Varieties of Democracy. The ACC said these are fewer sources than are typically used to compile this score.
The ACC claimed that it was working to further strengthen the National Integrity System. The commission has launched a "national anti-corruption policy" that will be in line with the government's 20-year master plan and the government's "Maldives 2.0" vision.
The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the globe by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
