Taipei  - Former banker Jeffrey Koo Jr testified Wednesday that his uncle had given the wife of Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian 400 million Taiwan dollars
(11.8 million US dollars) through an associate as a reward for sealing a lucrative land deal.

The uncle, Koo Cheng-yun, and his associate did not name the ex-president as the recipient of the funds when they testified at Chen's trial on corruption charges.

In the cross-examination of Jeffrey Koo, Chen again denied that he took bribes as part of the land deal, saying there was no direct evidence showing he was involved in the case.

The trial was held behind closed doors, but transcripts of the proceedings were provided to the press.

Chen was returned to court in handcuffs Wednesday for his trial, which was expected to take months if not a year. It is to continue Thursday with two other witnesses expected to testify against Chen.

Chen, 58, was charged along with his wife, Wu Shu-chen, with embezzling 2.97 million US dollars in state funds and accepting 14 million US dollars in bribes as well as money laundering, influence peddling, extortion and document forgery during his two four-year terms, which ended in May 2008.

If convicted Chen could face life in prison.

A total of 14 people - including Chen's son, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law - were indicted in the high-profile corruption case.

While Chen has denied all the charges, admitting only that his wife accepted political donations and wired them abroad without his knowledge, his wife, son and some former aides have pleaded guilty to some of the charges.

Chen has accused the government of President Ma Ying-jeou from the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party of political persecution to please Beijing, a charge denied by the administration.

While Chen has quit his Democratic Progressive Party, the case has tarnished its image, raising fears that it might take years for the pro-independence party to regroup and return to power. (dpa)