A former cabinet minister in the government of Brazil's President Michel Temer has been arrested and charged with obstruction of justice, officials said on Monday.

Geddel Vieira Lima, 58, Temer's former government minister, was detained as part of an investigation into corruption at the publicly owned bank Caixa Economica Federal.

The arrest comes after charges were filed last week against the embattled Temer, whom prosecutors accused of receiving bribes from a Brazilian meatpacking plant.

Those charges come against the backdrop of Brazil's sweeping graft investigation, the three-year long "Operation Car Wash" probe, which has uncovered systemic corruption in the political and business elite in Latin America's biggest country.

Source: AFP