Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gives a statement to the media after being detained for questioning in a federal investigation of a bribery and money laundering scheme in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 4, 2016. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker/File Photo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s Federal Police asked prosecutors to charge former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for more crimes in the country’s widest-ever corruption probe, Globo’s G1 news site reported on Monday.

Lula, president from 2003 to 2010 and a possible candidate in the 2018 election, is already a defendant in three criminal probes linked to the so-called Car Wash investigation into large-scale corruption at state-controlled oil company Petrobras.

According to the Federal Police, he should also be charged for corruption in the acquisition of land for his foundation and the rental of an apartment in the same building where he lives. The Federal Police alleges these expenses were paid by Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht SA, G1 said.

The former president’s spokesmen told G1 that Lula had been paying rent on the apartment for years and that his foundation does not own the land on which its headquarters were built. Odebrecht said it is collaborating with Justice and declined to comment further.

Neither the Federal Police nor Lula’s spokesmen were immediately available to comment on the report.

The Odebrecht family and top executives have signed plea bargains with Brazilian prosecutors in which as many as 77 of the engineering group’s executives are testifying about widespread political graft. The family has apologized for its involvement in Brazil’s massive corruption scandal.