Chen was ordered to appear in person after he was only represented by his lawyers in the previous hearing.

He had sought to be absent from the session again on grounds that his home was just searched by the prosecutors searching for evidence related to his alleged involvement in an international money laundering scam.

But the request was denied by the court.

He appeared at the court along with incumbent Legislator Lai Ching-teh of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and Hsu Kuo-yung, a former DPP lawmaker, who were named as co-defendants in the same libel case.

A lawyer by training, Chen strongly defended that he did not clearly identify retired Vice Admiral Lei Hsueh-ming of the navy and four other military officials for accepting kickbacks totaling US$20 million in the government's procuring Lafayette frigates from France.

He took the occasion to assail the frigate procurement case for involving the largest amount of kickbacks in history, a scam he had vowed for 10 years to conduct a thorough investigation to find the truth.

Lei and his four military colleagues said they had never taken any commissions or kickbacks in the battleship purchasing project as openly charged by Chen and the two DPP lawmakers.

The five also demanded a compensation of NT$2.01 billion for defaming them in a civil lawsuit.

During the court debate, Lei's lawyer raised the question of who actually has more than US$20 million deposits in bank accounts in Switzerland.

Chen and his family are presently under an extensive international probe concerning the US$20 million stashed in a family member's bank accounts in Switzerland.

He already made a public apology for the huge fund deposits abroad and withdrew his membership from the DPP so that his act would not damage the party.

The court is set to announce the verdict for libel suit on the morning of Sept. 9.

Chen declined to answer any questions raised by reporters when entering or leaving the court.

But Ku Li-hsiung, the chief lawyer of a legal team handling all cases Chen and his family are involved, told reporters that he already terminated the relationship as Chen's lawyer concerning the case in which the president and his wife were indicted for using other people's invoices or receipts to claim his "state affairs" expenses.

Lee Sheng-cheng, other lawyer on the team, said the withdrawal of Ku will not affect the legal team's mission of continuously providing defense for Chen and his family in the case.

Chen's wife and several senior aides were indicted for alleged embezzling public funds while he himself was named a co-defendant.

The former president had pledged to work as a volunteer for public service after leaving office on May 20.

But he has since been tied down mainly by a series of legal cases.