Dilma: Opposition is Trying to "Destroy" Petrobras

04/15/2014 - 08h48

President Dilma Rousseff sought yesterday to play down the efforts made by the opposition to investigate suspected irregularities in Petrobras business, accusing her opponents of trying to "destroy" the company.

At the unveiling of two oil tankers at the port of Suape, in Pernambuco, Dilma mounted a fierce defense of the company and criticized the opposition. This was the course of action suggested by her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Dilma promised to investigate irregularities at Petrobras and punish anyone found responsible, but she also said that she will not "keep quiet" in the face of "a negative campaign conducted for political gain", which she believes the opposition has been waging against the company.

Last week, in an interview with a group of bloggers, Lula criticized the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI, in its Portuguese acronym) that has been proposed by the opposition, and suggested that the PT confront its opponents regarding the initiative.

Allies of the government in Congress managed to block the CPI that would have investigated Petrobras, proposing the creation of a different CPI with a wider scope, in order to take the pressure off the company and investigate other issues that may prove embarrassing for the opposition.

Petrobras will be the theme of two public hearings this week. Today, the company president Graça Foster will speak to a Senate commission, while tomorrow, the ex-director of Petrobras' international department, Nestor Cerveró, will speak to a commission in Congress.

Dismissed from his post in March, Cerveró was heavily involved in the 2006 purchase of the Pasadena refinery in the United States, a problematic piece of business which has greatly damaged Petrobras' reputation.

Dilma, who was on the company's board of directors at the time, approved the deal. However, last month she claimed that she only authorized the purchase as she had not been informed of clauses in the contract which were unfavorable to Petrobras.

"INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS"

Petrobras is also under investigation by the Federal Police, on account of connections between suppliers of the company and a money-laundering scheme worth billions of reais, in which Petrobras' ex-director, Paulo Roberto Costa, was involved. Costa was arrested last month.

For Dilma, the suspicions surrounding the company relate to isolated incidents. 'We can't permit that the actions of certain individuals - however serious - are used to try and destroy the reputation of our largest and most important company,' she said.

She said that the opposition 'manipulates' and 'distorts' information in order to discredit Petrobras, and emphasized that the company is worth more today than when the Workers' Party (PT) took power in 2003. She neglected to mention, however, that the company has lost more than half its value since she assumed the presidency.

In Rio, one of Dilma's likely opponents in the elections later this year, Aécio Neves (Brazilian Social Democracy Party), criticized Dilma and defended the original proposal of a CPI to investigate irregularities at Petrobras.

"What is most tarnishing the reputation of Petrobras is the organization that the PT established at the company years ago," he said at a meeting with business leaders. Neves was one of the authors of the CPI proposal.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR

At the unveiling of two oil tankers at the port of Suape, in Pernambuco, Dilma mounted a fierce defense of Petrobras