Brazil's federal police on Tuesday arrested a friend of ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as part of the country's operation to investigate corruption in government contracts.

Agricultural entrepreneur Jose Carlos Bumlai was arrested on the charge of using Lula's name to obtain financial advantages and obstruct investigations, said federal judge Sergio Moro.

However, Moro stressed that there is no evidence that Lula had any knowledge of his name being used in this manner.

"There is no evidence that the ex-president was involved in this. However, the recurring behavior of the accused raises the suspicion that the same name is used to obstruct or interfere in investigations, which has a potential to cause damage...to the ex-president's reputation," the judge said.

Moro said that the preventive arrest aims to stop Bumlai from attempting to further interfere in investigations.

The federal prosecutor's office accuses Bumlai of corruption which supposedly benefited Lula's political party, the Workers' Party. Police are also investigating the financing contracts Bumlai's companies signed with the Brazilian Development Bank.

Investigators said that the companies received millions of dollars in financing when they were not operational. Endi

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