Brisbane, November 17 (NNN-RHC)-- The investigation into kickbacks at Brazil's state oil company Petrobras could change Brazilian society forever, especially the relationship between society and the country's state and private companies, President Dilma Rousseff said Sunday.

"It will forever change the relationship between Brazilian society, the Brazilian government and private companies,' she told reporters Sunday at the G-20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia. Rousseff's comments were her first public remarks since a sweeping police operation last week.

Police on Friday arrested top executives of some of the country's largest construction and engineering firms as part of a probe into money-laundering and bribery charges at Petrobras, as the oil company is commonly known. A former senior Petrobras executive responsible for some of the company's biggest contracts was also arrested.

Rousseff was chairwoman of Petrobras' board of directors from 2003 to 2010. Brazilian Minister of Justice, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, has criticized the opposition's attempts to politicize the current operation against corruption and the dismantling of a scheme of diversion of funds in Petrobras.