Rousseff Believes Petrobras Scandal Will Change Brazil Forever

11/17/2014 - 12h19

President Dilma Rousseff said this Sunday (16) the Petrobras scandal "will change forever the relations between the State, the society and the private companies".

It will change "Brazil forever", she added, because "the President is going to end impunity".

The statements were made shortly before the working lunch that ended the G20 Summit, in Brisbane, Australia.

Whenever Rousseff spoke about the Petrobras scandal, she minimized its consequences.

She used the same catchphrase, repeated to exhaustion during the election campaign: this is not the first scandal in Brazil, but "it is the first scandal of our history to be investigated".

Therefore, it will bring "sunlight on all processes of corruption".

The President avoided condemning the state-run oil corporation or the private companies whose presidents were arrested.

"We cannot condemn the companies alone. We must condemn people on both sides; the corrupt and the corruptors", she said.

She added: "It doesn't mean that every Petrobras action is corrupt".

She remembered that the investigation is ongoing and, therefore, no one is guilty yet; they are still being investigated. Rousseff stated that we need to "classify each one's guilty", so we do not allow impunity: "There is no generic fault".

She said: "We cannot just start condemning A, B, C or D".

The President insisted on differentiating the company from any crime committed by its directors and was keen to point out that in the private sector, corruption cases also occur.

She mentioned the American company Enron, involved in a major scandal a few years ago.

However, she did not fail to admit that "it is a symbolic case for Brazil. It is the first effective investigation on corruption allegations in the country involving private and public sectors. It is the first and it is a deep investigation".

Once again she mentioned the argument used during the presidential campaign: it is possible to "list a huge amount of scandals in Brazil that have not been investigated".

She believes that "maybe these scandals that have not been investigated led to what happened at Petrobras".

But she did not explain any more specifically.

The President avoided a question about whether she has accepted political responsibility for the facts that are being revealed.

She also refused the hypothesis of investigating other government crimes.

"I'm not going to search for wrongdoings".

She added: "We cannot demonize all building contractors in the country. It's a huge business and, if A, B, C or D have misconducted, they will pay for it. Now, that doesn't mean that we're going to put a stamp on the company".

Rousseff insisted the individuals will be judged and "not the company X or Z, unless it is 100% indicted, which is not the case".

Finally, when asked whether the investigation influences her choice of future ministers - in case they are involved, the Congress might withdraw its support - she gave a double no.

She said "Petrobras case has been there for a while; it's not news to us".

"We just didn't know who were "the real people" involved in the scandal. "But the investigation, we knew about it".

It is therefore reasonable to assume that the presidential decision on the future ministers already took into account the Petrobras case.

Rousseff reported that more than 15 ministers have resigned. In fact, all of them have."It's an elegant gesture", because the President is granted the power to appoint the ministers during its mandate.

Rousseff was also spontaneous about the protests that raised the possibility of impeachment. Some of them called for military's return to power.

"Brazil's democratic regime is consolidated, so it is part of our history to tolerate protests, even the more extreme".

She believes the country is capable of dealing with it all, "even the most intolerant proposals".

It is obvious, however, that she does not agree with everything.

Translated by JULIANA CALDERARI

Read the article in the original language

	Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR
	Rousseff said the Petrobras scandal "will change forever the relations between the State, the society and the private companies"