"Malaysia, Nepal, the Maldives and Afghanistan, on the other hand, saw their scores decline, representing worsening levels of perceived corruption," TI said in its annual report released globally on Tuesday.
Nepal was ranked at 121 position of the index in 2008 but this position slipped to 143 position in the corruption barometer in 2009, according to TI. Only war-ravaged Afghanistan is behind Nepal in the index among the South Asian countries. Afghanistan ranked at 179 position has highest level of perceived corruption.
Reforming Anti-Corruption Legislations