Dilma Rousseff on Operation Car Wash

Dilma Rousseff's core position concerning Operation Car Wash is that the vast anti-corruption probe became a political tool used by her opponents, ultimately leading to her impeachment. She argued that she was targeted not for personal enrichment stemming from the scandal, but because she permitted the investigation to expand and implicate powerful figures within the political establishment. While she chaired the board of Petrobras, the state oil company central to the scheme, during the period when many illegal activities occurred, prosecutors ultimately never brought formal charges against her related to the Petrobras scheme itself.

Her impeachment proceedings were formally based on charges of illegally manipulating federal budget accounts, often referred to as fiscal pedaling. However, Rousseff and her supporters framed this as a pretext. They contended that the impeachment process, which suspended her from office in August 2016, was fundamentally intertwined with the political backlash fueled by the ongoing corruption investigation. The failure to halt or control the scope of Operation Car Wash is presented as the real motivation behind the move to remove the president from office, with her political adversaries seeking self-preservation.