how the arrest of brazils former president michel temer will impact the countrys political agenda creditagence francepresse getty imagesmarch 22 2019rio de janeiro the news coverage was breathless political speculation was rampant and satirical twitter memes flew after former president michel temer of brazil was taken into custody on thursday in connection with a sweeping corruption probe known as carwashmr temers arrest did not come as a surprise the 78yearold politician who for decades wielded enormous influence in brazils notoriously transactional political system has long been dogged by accusations of corruption but it was the second jailing of a former brazilian president in as many years and in an unusual step some saw as overly harsh a federal judge in rio de janeiro ordered mr temers detention as a precautionary measure as the authorities investigate what they say is a pattern of kickbacks and money laundering he oversaw the continuing carwash scandal has tarnished much of brazils political elite and could threaten the current governments agendawhat is carwashin 2014 federal police officers and prosecutors with expertise in money laundering exposed a wideranging scheme that came to be known as lava jato or carwash after they stumbled onto suspicious currency transactions at gas stations in braslia the capitalthe investigation exposed a pattern of institutionalized kickbacks at some of brazils largest companies and put scores of politicians across the political spectrum in the cross hairs of brazils judiciary which operates with considerable autonomycarwashs tentacles reached across borders landing former presidents and ministers from across latin america in jail it also led to the largest foreign corruption settlement negotiated by the united states justice departmentthe investigation roiled brazils politics last year when former president luis incio lula da silva was detained to start serving a 12year sentence following his conviction in 2017 on charges of corruption and money laundering that knocked him out of the presidential contest in which he had been the frontrunnerhow does mr temer fit into the corruption investigationat the time brazil was led by mr temer who rose to the presidency in 2016 after the impeachment of his onetime political ally former president dilma rousseff ms rousseff who was not implicated in carwash became deeply unpopular as the scandal widened and brazilians endured a brutal economic recessionmr temers time in the presidential palace was turbulent just months after he took the helm of a deeply polarized brazil law enforcement officials leaked a transcript of a wiretap in which mr temer was heard condoning a bribe things soon got worse the attorney general filed two sets of corruption charges against mr temer in 2017 accusing him of corruption money laundering and obstruction of justicemr temer a centerright politician spent much of his political capital in office persuading members of congress to use their authority to keep those cases from moving forward once he left office on jan 1 though mr temer lost the legal protections elected officials enjoy brazilian legal experts assumed it was a matter of time before the