Charges have been brought against former President Lula da Silva in connection with allegations that he secretly owned a seafront penthouse property in the city of Guaruja.
Prosecutors in Sao Paulo state are conducting a money laundering investigation into important political figures who are at the centre of a corruption scandal.
Mr da Silva, who was held for questioning last week and whose home was raided, denies ownership of the apartment, which officially belongs to building company OAS.
The construction business is one of the main targets of a parallel case being conducted by the federal authorities and focusing on state-run oil giant Petrobras.
The latest charges filed against the ex-president will still need to be approved by a judge - the once-immensely popular ex-president has declared the Sao Paulo state investigators "are not unbiased" and do not have the authority to hold such an investigation.
"There is no news in the charges by Sao Paulo's Attorney General's Office, since they were announced in the magazine Veja on January 22 of 2016," Mr da Silva said in a statement.
Last Friday, federal investigators said they were looking into whether renovations at the Guaruja beachfront apartment and another project at a country house used by the former president and his family counted as a personal favour in exchange for political gain.
Both properties have been renovated recently, paid for by the companies that have done well over decades from contracts with the Brazilian government.
They are also at the centre of the $2bn (£1.4bn) Petrobras scandal.
Mr da Silva, who denies ever owning the penthouse, says he has been there twice.
He also says the country house at the centre of the investigation was lent to him by friends and he does not own that either.
(Sky News)
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