Watchdog questions corruption score as Maldives stagnates on annual index

The Maldives was ranked 91 out of 182 countries in the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index released on Tuesday, tied with India as the second-highest scorer in South Asia, behind Bhutan at 71. But the country's score remained below the global average of 42 and the Asia Pacific regional average of 45. Sri Lanka scored 35, Nepal 34, Pakistan 28, Bangladesh 24 and Afghanistan 16.

On a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean, the Maldives score was a one-point improvement from 38 in 2024, but down from 43 five years ago. The number has remained "consistently low," and indicates "limited progress in addressing systemic corruption," Transparency Maldives observed.

In a statement released later on Tuesday, the ACC stressed that the CPI measures the perception of corruption, not actual corruption. The score was derived from just three international sources – Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, the World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, and the Varieties of Democracy Project – which was fewer than most countries surveyed and "do not directly assess the level of corruption in the Maldives," the watchdog said. 

Due to the limited sources, the score needed to be discussed at a national level "to make it a meaningful result," the commission suggested, noting that it was developing a national anti-corruption policy with the assistance of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which would also be aligned with the government's long-term development plan.

The ACC was silent on concerns raised by Transparency Maldives about legislative changes that allow the president to appoint the five-member commission's own president and vice president.

The commission's track record also offers its own measure of the problem. Since 2009, the ACC has ordered the recovery of MVR 1.61 billion (US$ 104 million) in concluded corruption cases, ACC president Adam Shamil told the UN anti-corruption conference in Doha in December. He has declined to disclose how much has actually been recovered.

In the five-year period to the end of 2023, just 19 out of 4,345 registered cases were accepted for prosecution. Over the same period, the commission ordered the recovery of MVR 272 million, of which MVR 350,058 was collected. In 2024, the ACC identified MVR 80 million for recovery across 16 cases but the state recovered just MVR 2.4 million, according to its latest annual report.

The persistent and "concerning" low scores for the Maldives reflect "systemic vulnerabilities to corruption that undermine public trust, weaken institutions, and limit citizens’ access to justice and essential services," Transparency Maldives said. It warned that constitutional and legislative changes over the past year had "significantly centralised authority within the executive, heightening the risk of state capture."

The local NGO pointed to the suspension of three Supreme Court justices in February, about 15 minutes before a hearing on the constitutionality of anti-defection provisions that consolidated presidential control over parliament. The legal challenge was effectively derailed, as five justices are required to hear constitutional cases. Two of the three justices were later impeached by the ruling party supermajority.

The anti-corruption watchdog played a central role in the Supreme Court purge. ACC president Shamil had a letter hand-delivered to the judicial watchdog notifying it of a purported criminal investigation against the justices – at the preliminary stage before the commission had even decided whether to proceed with a probe – providing the pretext for suspensions that scuttled the constitutional challenge.

Changes to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act and the Elections Commission Act that allow the president to appoint the leadership of both commissions were "politicising key oversight bodies and undermining institutional impartiality," TM said. The passage of the Media and Broadcasting Regulation Act in September replaced a self-regulatory mechanism with a seven-member commission empowered to shutter outlets. 

"Reduced independence of oversight institutions, including those responsible for anti-corruption and elections, raises the risk of state capture, diminishes transparency and erodes public trust in the government and key state institutions," TM warned.

The index assessed a year in which a culture of entrenched corruption and legacy of impunity were evident at every level of government.

In August, a leaked report from the central bank's Financial Intelligence Unit exposed suspected misappropriation of President Dr Mohamed Muizzu's inauguration ceremony budget after 67 percent of the MVR 23 million (US$1.5 million) allocated flowed to companies owned by ruling party vice president Ibrahim Shujau and his cousin. The FIU found evidence of money laundering and the conversion of public funds into luxury apartments.

In September, 81,167 leaked messages from former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb's phones documented the inner workings of the country's biggest corruption scandal, in which US$ 90 million was stolen from the state. Despite the evidence implicating dozens of officials from both the ruling and opposition parties, Adeeb was pardoned by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih days before leaving office in November 2023. Not a single dollar of the stolen funds has been recovered.

A special audit of state utility Fenaka Corporation released in late September found MVR 1.37 billion in contracts were awarded without competitive tenders. Millions went to companies linked to its managing director's family and to campaign donors from both major parties.

Earlier in the year, Maldives Gas lost an MVR 3.7 million advance payment to a Dubai-based company for a gas shipment that never arrived. The state-owned company bypassed procurement rules by making the payment without a security guarantee.

"Weak oversight, limited transparency, and politically influenced decision-making create an environment where misconduct can go unchecked, and public officials may act with impunity," Transparency Maldives said, flagging weak legal frameworks and a low conviction rate for perpetrators as disincentives to report corruption and abuses of power.

TM called on the government to safeguard the independence of oversight institutions, the judiciary and local councils through merit-based appointments, protect media freedom and civic space, strengthen anti-corruption enforcement including whistleblower protections, and align governance practices with international standards.

In his state-of-the-nation address last week, President Muizzu said digitalisation of government services under the Maldives 2.0 programme would largely eliminate corruption and reiterated his pledge to submit anti-corruption, asset recovery and criminal procedure bills to parliament during the current session.

"If evidence of corruption, theft and fraud by any party is brought to me, I will not hesitate to take the necessary action," he declared.