Dilma Rousseff warns of severe crisis in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, Sept 27: Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said the country is facing a severe crisis and is heading towards a state of emergency due to the ongoing abuse of authority.

Rousseff posted on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter, reacting to the recent arrests of her former Finance Minister Guido Mantega and former Chief of Staff Antonio Palocci, Xinhua news agency reported.

She said: "The country is experiencing a severe situation. The announcement of the new phase of Operation Car Wash (the Petrobras investigation) by the Minister of Justice Alexandre de Moraes in an electoral campaign ... raises suspicions of abuse of authority and political usage of the federal police."

The arrests were within the ongoing investigation into a corruption case involving state oil major Petrobras.

Rousseff referred to declarations made on Sunday by Moraes, who promised "more actions" concerning the investigation.

On September 14, Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was accused of money laundering and corruption in connection with the Petrobras investigation.

On September 22, Mantega was arrested and interrogated by police.

On Monday, Palocci, Lula's former finance minister and Rousseff's former chief of staff, was arrested for allegedly receiving bribes from Odebrecht, a big construction firm closely involved with the Petrobras corruption ring.

Rousseff said were the arrests made during her presidency, "we would have been severely criticized by the press and the opposition. We are approaching a state of emergency," she said.

Rousseff was removed from the presidency by the Senate on August 31. She was impeached for breaking fiscal responsibility laws in her management of the federal budget, which was not related to the Petrobras scandal.

IANS