Prosecutors in Sao Paulo plan to file money-laundering and other corruption charges against Brazilian ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, according to papers filed late yesterday in court.

The case involves a three-storey apartment in Guaruja on the Atlantic Coast that investigators suspect Lula received in return for government contracts.

Lula, who led the ruling Workers’ Party and was president from 2003-10, denies any wrongdoing.

Brazilian police raided Lula’s home Friday in Sao Bernardo do Campo near Sao Paolo, and he was detained for questioning.

The Lula case grew out of a wide-ranging probe since 2014 of an alleged network of corruption in which government officials are believed to have colluded with contractors who overcharged state-owned oil company Petrobras and kicked back hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes, in what has become known as Operation Car Wash.

Petrobras, the most visible symbol of emerging Brazil, was once the sixth-largest company in the world and accounted for about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

- dpa