Lula is accused of having received bribes worth 3.7 million reais (1.15 million U.S. dollars) from the OAS construction company, in the form of a three-floor apartment in Guaruja, a resort town on the coast of Sao Paulo.

Should he be found guilty and should the sentence then be upheld by a higher court, Lula would be automatically barred from standing for president in the 2018 election. Opinion polls constantly show him as the most favored candidate by the Brazilian electorate.

Also on Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio de Mello said there was no current motive to detain Lula.

Speaking to the press during Lula's interrogation, Mello said the court case into Lula was not concluded but that, for the moment, "it is not necessary to halt the natural order of the judicial process."

He said that this order should be "investigate, prove guilt and carry out the sentence... What should be an exception, provisional prison...has become the norm."

Moro, the head judge for Lava Jato, has been criticized for maintaining various accused people in preventive prison for long periods.

There is no precise date for Moro to give his ruling on Lula's case but it is expected to take several weeks.

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