Corruption is a major issue in many countries, but for the people and media of Brazil it has become an obsession.

According to Transparency International, Brazil is a long way from being the world's most corrupt country - about half way down the global list, well ahead of Nigeria and Indonesia, for example.

But tell that to most Brazilians and you will get a hollow laugh.

Newspapers, radio and television talk of nothing but sleaze, with four or five major scandals competing for attention.

The juiciest involves Celso Pitta, mayor of Brazil's biggest city, Sao Paulo. He is fighting for political survival after becoming involved in a public slanging match with his former wife.

She went on television to accuse him of bribing local councillors to avoid impeachment, and of accepting a trip to the World Cup, paid for by a company which handled the city's rubbish collection.

Police 'abuses'

Six hours down the road, in Rio de Janeiro, it is the state governor who is in trouble.

The advisor, Luis Eduardo Soares, has fled to the United States because he says he has received death threats from officers alleged to have colluded with torture, murder, kidnapping and drug-trafficking.

Meanwhile, at a national level, two parliamentary inquiries are digging deep into the slime.

One has discovered evidence that pharmaceutical companies are charging over the odds for medicines.

The other, into drug trafficking, has accused politicians of involvement in the narcotics business.

Privacy laws

The Brazilian media have become very good at exposing scandals - so much so, that politicians are trying to tighten up the virtually non-existent privacy laws.

Mayor Pitta, for example, has been convicted of wrongdoing five times, but has never had to resign because he has always managed to spin out his appeals.

Several policemen arrested after giving evidence to the inquiry into drug-trafficking have subsequently been released.

Lawyers point out that Brazil's delicate system of checks and balances is something to be cherished.

Unlike most of Latin America, Brazil does have a genuinely independent judiciary.

But the system still seems to favour the rich and powerful.

The difference these days is that the media is showing no sign of letting the scandals go.