Brazilian police on Monday arrested Antonio Palocci, a former finance minister and chief of staff in the governments of ex-presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, in the latest phase of a sweeping anti-corruption probe, a source linked to the operation said.

 

Federal police had said in a statement earlier on Monday it had evidence that a former minister, who it did not identify, acted as a liaison between the leftist Workers Party and Latin America's largest engineering conglomerate Odebrecht SA in a political kickback scheme centered on contracts at state oil company Petrobras.

 

Construction magnate Marcelo Odebrecht, whose family owns the group, was sentenced in March to 19 years in jail for bribery, money laundering and organized crime in relation to the scandal at Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the oil company is formally known.