Rousseff springs to former President Lula's defense

President Dilma Rousseff called the press this Friday afternoon (Mar. 4) to put up a strong defense to former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a target of the 24th stage of Operation Car Wash, launched this Friday (Mar. 4) . In the pronouncement, the president reaffirmed the content of the note published this afternoon, expressing "deep dissatisfaction" with the former president's bench warrant and considered the measure "unnecessary".

The president said she was dissatisfied and outraged at the news of an alleged plea bargain agreed to by Senator Delcídio do Amaral (of the Workers' Party—PT) and rebutted information given by the senator's testimonies. Rousseff said that the "senator's testimonies are utterly subjective and insidious, in case they were really given," and considered outlandish some facts reported by Delcídio do Amaral, according to Isto É magazine.

She denied having conversations with Chief Supreme Court Justice Ricardo Lewandowski in an attempt to "turn the tide" of Operation Car Wash. She declared that she had already provided clarification on the purchase of the Pasadena refinery by Petrobras in 2014, based on documents of Petrobras' Board of Directors, and that Brazil's Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot ordered to drop the investigation case.

The president considered "regrettable" the illegal leak of a hypothetical plea bargain, which, if really agreed to, aimed exclusively at affecting her and her government. "[It's] probably based on the immoral and petty desire for revenge and retaliation towards those who did not defend the ones who could not be defended against the acts committed," she noted.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta

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