Malta stagnates on Corruption Perception Index 2021

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta made an insignificant improvement of one point on its Corruption Perceptions Index from last year. With a score of 54 points for public sector corruption worldwide, Malta is still behind the rest of the EU and Western Europe which scored an average of 66 points.

In last year’s report issued by Transparancy International, Malta was considered as a “country to watch” and emphasized on the need of reforms to fight corruption and to prioritize the rule of law.

Last week, the police in Malta conducted a raid at former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat private residence and office. Both police searches were conducted as part of an investigation into potential corruption related to the privitisation process of three public hospitals.

Malta is still on the FATF’s grey list and no one was prosecuted for high level corruption. Maltese Finance Minister Clyde Caruana confirmed that it is still unknown when Malta will be removed from the FATF greylist, but did say that the government has submitted a report to assessors for consideration.

The 2021 report did not mention specifically Malta, however warned the EU Member States not to continue to drag their feet on implementing EU anti-money laundering legislation, and on closing the loopholes that still remain in this important new law.” It also said that EU countries also need to support an ambitious proposal to establish a new EU anti-money laundering agency.

The top countries on the Index are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand with a score of 88 points, all of which also rank in the top 10% in the world on the Democracy Index civil liberties score.

(ITALPRESS).


Source: medNews