Brazil prosecutors charge Rousseff campaign strategist

Joao Santana, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's campaign chief, is escorted by federal police officers as he leaves the Institute of Forensic Science in Curitiba, Brazil, February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Rodolfo Buhrer

CURITIBA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors charged political strategist Joao Santana, the architect of President Dilma Rousseff's 2010 and 2014 election victories, and 16 others with corruption on Thursday as part of a massive graft investigation.

Santana, who was arrested in February, is accused of receiving bribes from engineering conglomerate Odebrecht in a scheme to divert funds from state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol told a news conference.