The former governor of Rio de Janeiro state has been arrested as part of a corruption investigation linked to a World Cup project and other works worth billions of dollars, a blow to Brazil’s ruling party that may fuel political instability.

Federal prosecutors accused Sérgio Cabral of leading a criminal organization that took 224m reais ($65.6m) in bribes from construction firms in exchange for awarding them infrastructure contracts from 2007-2014.

The projects included the renovation of the iconic Maracanã soccer stadium, where the 2014 World Cup final was held; building works in some of Rio’s biggest slums; and the construction of a major highway around the city’s outskirts.

Federal police and prosecutors are also investigating several infrastructure projects related to this year’s Summer Olympics, also held in Rio de Janeiro. They have not yet taken any action on those inquiries.

As Cabral was driven out of the garage of his apartment building on Thursday morning in a black federal police SUV, dozens of people who had gathered hurled insults as TV cameramen and photographers encircled the vehicle.

Cabral, the most powerful figure in Rio politics for the past decade, made no comment. His lawyer declined to comment when reached by phone.

Cabral is the latest high-profile politician to be arrested in recent weeks in a two-year corruption investigation known as Operation Lava Jato (“Car Wash”), which centers on a vast political kickback scheme at the state-run oil company Petrobras.

Executives from several construction firms have turned state’s witness and the companies have signed leniency deals. That has provided testimony about endemic corruption cutting across political and business spectrums, igniting dozens of new inquiries like the one resulting in Cabral’s detention.

Testimony from executives of the construction and engineering firms Andrade Gutierrez and Carioca Engenharia was the basis of Thursday’s arrests, prosecutors said.

“There are strong indications of the cartelization of works executed with federal resources, through the payment of bribes to Sérgio Cabral and other [state] employees,” said federal prosecutor Lauro Coelho.

Cabral, a member of President Michel Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement party (PMDB), was the focus of intense ire during a wave of anti-corruption rallies that enveloped Brazil in 2013.

Protesters at the time camped outside his luxury apartment for weeks, loudly chanting anti-graft slogans.

Amid the pressure, Cabral resigned his governorship in April 2014 with nine months left of his second term.

Operation Lava Jato led to the political upheaval that ultimately toppled the leftist former president Dilma Rousseff earlier this year on charges of doctoring public accounts.

Cabral was a close ally of Rousseff and another former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose own trial on corruption charges in the Petrobras investigation begins on Monday.

“Cabral’s arrest is unlikely to hit the Temer administration directly, but it will fuel political instability as the investigation seems to be setting its sight at the PMDB and other parties,” said Leonardo Barreto with Brasília-based consultancy Factual Informação e Análise.

Temer is pushing for unpopular austerity measures in Congress to regain the confidence of investors in a country struggling with its deepest recession since the 1930s.

Cabral’s arrest came just a day after another former Rio governor, Anthony Garotinho, was arrested for alleged voter fraud in a state that is struggling with a grueling fiscal crisis and anti-austerity protests.

The state is facing difficulties paying its employees and maintaining basic public services.