Brazilian newspapers said ex-minister Henrique Eduardo Alves was arrested as part of an investigation into bribery and money-laundering in the building of the Arena das Dunas stadium in the northeastern city of Natal.

A police source told AFP that anti-corruption raids were taking place in the south of the country but did not confirm reports that Alves was one of those arrested.

A police statement about the operation said the stadium construction project had been inflated by some $35 million.

Alves served briefly in the government of President Michel Temer last year, but quit after a month after being implicated in a corruption scandal, as countless top Brazilian politicians have been.

Temer himself risks facing trial over other corruption allegations.