Ex-Brazilian finance chief Mantega arrested in fraud probe

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega has been arrested in connection with the sprawling corruption scandal at the state-run oil giant Petrobras.

According to Brazil's federal police, Mantega and others are being investigated for alleged overpricing in the construction of oil platforms. Executives of construction companies Mendes Junior and OSX were also being targeted. OSX belongs to tycoon Eike Batista, once one of the richest men in Brazil.

Mantega was arrested Thursday in a hospital in Sao Paulo, his lawyer told the Associated Press.

Mantega had served as Brazil's finance minister for more than eight years in two Worker's Party administrations. He started in the post with former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and left at the end of the first term of former President Dilma Rousseff