BRAZIL’S massive “car wash” corruption probe could double in scope, the lead prosecutor said on Thursday.

Deltan Dallagnol, co-ordinator of the task force in Parana state, said: “New plea agreements could allow the Car Wash operation to double its size in the future.”

Investigators say more than $2 billion (£1.6 billion) in bribes were paid out in a kickback scheme centred on state oil company Petrobras and included major construction companies like Odebrecht.

Mr Dallagnol said the investigation puts “lives at risk” because of forces trying to snuff it out. He said the pressures were increasing as the number “of powerful people caught up in it grows by the day.”

Several ministers in unelected President Michel Temer’s pro-austerity government have been forced to resign over allegations of involvement in the scandal or attempts to cover it up, along with MPs and senators of his PMBD party.

The prosecutor said the death of Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki, who was overseeing a large part of the investigation, in a plane crash last week was a huge blow but ultimately would not derail the many cases in progress.

Meanwhile police issued a warrant for billionaire businessman Eike Batista, believed to be on a trip to New York, for allegedly bribing former Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral to net government contracts.

A lawyer for Mr Batista issued a statement saying he was abroad on business but would return “soon” and turn himself in.