RIO DE JANEIRO, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's former tourism minister was arrested Tuesday for alleged corruption related to the construction of a 2014 FIFA World Cup stadium, according to police sources.
Henrique Eduardo Alves is a former cabinet member and close ally of President Michel Temer, who has been involved in alleged corruption scandals as well. Alves was taken into custody in Rio Grande do Norte state on suspicion of accepting bribes and money laundering.
The charges include embezzling money from the World Cup stadium project in the city of Natal, and stashing illicit funds from another scheme in secret offshore accounts, with a total of more than 23 million U.S. dollars.
Alvez, who served as tourism minister under both Temer and former president Dilma Rousseff, gave up his cabinet post in June 2016 following corruption revelations by Operation Car Wash, a long-running investigation into graft.
He has been the third cabinet member to resign just one month since Temer assumed office in May 2016.
Corruption scandals have dogged Temer since he took office and appeared to have culminated in recent weeks.
On Saturday, Temer's former aide Rodrigo Rocha Loures was arrested on bribery charges.
Loures was caught on film accepting a suitcase containing 500,000 reals in cash (150,000 dollars) from executives of meat-packing giant JBS, which is under investigation for violating regulations.
