Reuters/Curitiba, Brazil

Brazilian police arrested three former congressmen yesterday, broadening their corruption investigation beyond state-run oil firm Petrobras to state lender Caixa Economica Federal and the federal health ministry.
A federal judge in the southern city of Curitiba ordered the  arrest of Andre Vargas, ex-congressman for the ruling Workers’ Party as well as Luiz Argolo and Pedro Correa, former lawmakers for the smaller opposition Party of Solidarity.
Though none currently hold office, they were the first politicians arrested in the year-old probe that discovered engineering and construction companies had funneled bribes from Petrobras.
Police agents and prosecutors said at a press conference that Vargas and his brother had taken bribes in exchange for helping a public relations firm and a biotech lab secure contracts with Caixa Economica Federal and the health ministry. “This was probably repeated in other areas,” said federal police agent Igor Romario.
Federal judge Sergio Moro wrote in dispatches ordering the arrests that the investigation would need to be deepened but evidence suggested crimes of corruption and money laundering had been committed.
Four other people were arrested for their alleged role in funnelling bribes. Prosecutors have warned since last year that the multi-billion-dollar kickback scheme they uncovered at Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the oil company is formally known, likely extended to other state-run companies.
The investigation dubbed “Operation Car Wash” has led to the indictment of scores of executives from Brazil’s top builders and implicated dozens of politicians, the majority of them from President Dilma Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, who allegedly received graft money.