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Sleaze and graft scandals have dominated the headlines in recent months
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) –Brazil’s leading news magazine, Veja, recently accused the country’s sports minister, who is overseeing preparations for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, of receiving kickbacks in exchange for government grants to sporting organisations.
Sports Minister Orlando Silva has dismissed the accusations as "farcical".
The affair is just the latest alleged corruption scandal to grab local headlines.
Sleaze and graft scandals involving political corruption, influence peddling and the misuse of state funds have dominated the media in South America’s largest economy in recent months.
Four ministers in President Dilma Rousseff's government have been forced to quit over corruption or ethics scandals in just three months.
The media has played a big role in bringing them down.
In June, the president's chief of staff, Antonio Palocci, resigned after Brazil’s largest daily newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, reported his personal wealth had increased 20-fold over the past four years. He has denied any wrongdoing.
In September, the same newspaper alleged that Brazil’s tourism minister, Pedro Novais, used public money to employ a housekeeper and driver for his wife while he was a congressman. He quit his post but has denied the accusations, saying he stepped down to prepare his defence.
In another scandal, Veja magazine accused officials at the agriculture and transport ministries of bribery and skimming off money from state contracts, prompting the president to fire dozens of officials, including the transport minister in July. He has also denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier this week, Brazil’s O Globo newspaper reported that government officials have embezzled nearly $48 billion in state funds from 2003 to 2010.
Investigative journalism in Brazil is in its heyday.
In September, Brazilian journalists were awarded the Latin American Investigative Journalism Award for their probe on the misuse of millions of dollars of public funds by elected officials.
“There are very good investigative journalists in Brazil. There’s competition among the media to expose corruption,” David Fleischer, a political science professor at the University of Brasilia, told TrustLaw in a telephone interview.
As part of a government anti-corruption drive to clean up Brazilian politics, Rousseff has been quick to react to media coverage of graft scandals, tacitly encouraging ministers to resign or firing them.
“It’s like the president is saying to the press: I’ve washed my hands of these guys, now you go after them,” Fleischer said.
The government crackdown on corruption is proving popular among Brazilians, particularly among the expanding middle-classes, who are fed up with years of graft scandals. It also partly explains why Rousseff enjoys high approval ratings, hovering around 70 percent.
WATCHDOG
Across Latin America, the media is an important watchdog on corruption.
In Colombia, for example, the country’s leading news magazine, La Semana uncovered a story about alleged illegal wiretapping by Colombia’s secret police, which forced a former chief of the state intelligence agency to resign.
But delving into corruption and the shady relationships between elected officials and drug traffickers, particularly in Colombia, Mexico and across Central America, often comes at a heavy price.
According to the International Press Institute, 33 journalists and media staff have been killed this year in Latin America – 10 in Mexico and five in Brazil – mostly because of their reporting on corruption and drug trafficking, making the region the most dangerous place for journalists.
Corruption scandals are likely to continue to dominate the headlines as Brazil faces growing international pressure to clean up its dirty politics as host nation to major upcoming sporting events.
Brazil is also facing a period of austerity that’s likely to keep graft in the spotlight.
“Brazil is entering a tight belt situation that makes combating corruption ever more important,” said Fleischer.
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