According to Aécio, Dilma is trying to 'mock' Brazilians.

A senator from Minas Gerais criticizes the president's "reappearance" after two months of "convenient silence" to insult the nation's intelligence; Aécio called a press conference to rebut Dilma's statements that if she had been investigated in the 1990s, during the government of her political ally FHC, corruption at Petrobras would not have reached its current proportions; Dilma was referring to the testimony of the state-owned company's manager, Pedro Barusco, who said in his testimony that he had received bribes as early as 1997.

February 20, 2015, 16:48 PMUpdated July 05, 2018, 01:31 pm

Senator from Minas Gerais criticizes the president's "reappearance" after two months of "convenient silence" to insult the nation's intelligence; Aécio called a press conference to rebut Dilma's statements that, if she had been investigated in the 1990s, during the government of her political ally FHC, corruption at Petrobras would not have reached its current proportions; Dilma was referring to the testimony of the state-owned company's manager Pedro Barusco, who said in his testimony that he had received bribes as early as 1997 (Photo: Realle Palazzo-Martini)

247 - The national president of the PSDB party, Senator Aécio Neves (MG), reacted to President Dilma Rousseff's (PT) statements that if corruption at Petrobras had been investigated in the 1990s, it would not have reached its current proportions. According to the PSDB leader, the PT member seems to "want to mock" the intelligence of Brazilians.

In an interview this Friday (20), at Planalto, after a ceremony in which she received credentials from ambassadors of five countries, Dilma declared: "If in 1996 and 1997 they had investigated and punished at that time, we would not have the case of this Petrobras employee who spent more than 20 years practicing acts of corruption."

Dilma's speech was clearly aimed at someone and infuriated the senator from Minas Gerais. In 1996 and 1997, the president of the Republic was Fernando Henrique Cardoso, of the PSDB party. The former Petrobras manager declared to investigators of Operation Lava Jato that he was already receiving bribes from companies contracted by the state-owned company at that time.

After Dilma's speech, Aécio gave a press conference in the Senate to contest the president's statements. According to him, the president "reappeared" after two months of "convenient silence"—a period in which Dilma made no public statements.

"The president reappears, seemingly mocking the intelligence of Brazilians by attributing the biggest corruption scandal in our history, sponsored by the PT government, to a government from 15 years ago. In fact, it seems the president is once again living in a fantasy country, the one that guided her campaign and brought so much disappointment, even to her voters," he said.

According to him, the party is not afraid of investigations. "The PSDB has no fear whatsoever of any investigation whatsoever," he stated.

According to Aécio, corruption occurred in an "institutionalized way" for the benefit of a "power project." As long as there is no "mea culpa" on the part of the president, the senator said, Brazilians will continue to feel "deceived and wronged."

“It was time, in a very frank manner, for the President of the Republic to make her 'mea culpa,' to look Brazilians in the eye and say that her government erred, and erred greatly. She erred in managing the economy, she erred during the election campaign by spreading lies and using terrorism as a campaign weapon, and she erred, above all, in her ethical conduct,” he declared.