Former Brazil minister charged with corruption

BRASA­LIA: Former Brazil finance minister Guido Mantega was indicted on Monday on money laundering and other charges as part of the corruption scandal that has rocked the country’s business and political elites.

Mantega, 69, is accused of taking money from construction giant Odebrecht in exchange for helping to advance legislation that favoured the company, Judge Sergio Moro wrote. It is the first time Mantega has been charged in the so-called "Operation Car Wash", a vast probe of a pay-to-play relationship between Brazilian companies and politicians centered around the state oil company Petrobras. Mantega was finance minister during the second term of now jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and continued to hold the post under Lula’s successor Dilma Rousseff.