Businessmen, Political Financing, and Corruption: Odebrecht in Operation Car Wash

This chapter presents the results of the testimony analysis of Odebrecht businessmen who were involved in Operation Car Wash, specifically concerning illegal political financing. This approach was made through the analytical category of representation, and it allowed us to verify a specific and little-explored dimension of the political culture and the political action of the businessmen: the practice of corruption, that is recognised as an illegal action. The analysed statements indicate a certain homogeneity in the characterisation of the company’s political illicit practice and the relationship with the political system as something that was given and that could not be done differently. Thus, both concerning the legal and illegal scope of the company’s political actions, there was an allegation of impotence in the face of how the relationship between businesspeople and politicians in Brazil took place, which shows an essential aspect of the way influential Brazilian businesspeople thought and how they acted in the face of politics and democracy.