Taipei - The daughter of former president Chen Shui-bian was listed as a defendant by Taiwan prosecutors for allegedly making inconsistent testimony seen as an attempt to cover up for her father in the graft allegations against him, a spokesman said Wednesday.

"We have found the testimonies made by Ms Chen Hsin-yu about the secret state fund case inconsistent and sometimes contradictory," said Chen Yun-nan, spokesman for the Special Investigation Task Force under the Supreme Prosecutor's Office.

"For this, we have listed her as a defendant for making false statements and referred her case to the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office this morning for further probes and other legal actions," the spokesman said Wednesday.

The daughter, a dentist, became the latest person in the former president's family to be listed as a defendant in the high-profile corruption scandal implicating Chen Shui-bian.

Under Taiwan law, prosecutors have the power to list people as defendants before officially charging them.

Unlike her father, mother, brother and sister-in-law, who have also been listed as defendants and officially charged with either corruption or money laundering, Chen Hsin-yu was suspected of making false statements, a relatively lesser crime subject to no more than seven years in jail, judicial officials said.

Chen Yun-nan said there was no legal action at the moment barring Chen Hsin-yu from leaving Taiwan.

He said in addition to the daughter, prosecutors also listed the ex-leader's son, Chen Chih-chung, who is already charged with money laundering, and son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, who was charged in another case involving insider trading, as defendants for making false statements.

The ex-president was charged in mid-December along with his wife, Wu Shu-chen, with embezzling 2.97 million US dollars in state funds, accepting 14 million US dollars in bribes, money laundering, influence peddling, extortion and document forgery during his two four-year terms from 2000 to 2008. Chen Shui-bian's son, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law were charged with money laundering.

Chen Shui-bian, who has been detained since late December, has denied all the charges and has staged three hunger strikes to demand bail, but the court rejected his request, fearing he might flee abroad.

On Tuesday, Chen Shui-bian refused to defend himself in court to protest what he called an "unjust trial." He also dismissed his three lawyers last month for the same reason, saying the court could decide his fate whichever way it liked.

Chen Shui-bian said he was disillusioned with his "illegal" detention and trial and would stop cooperating with the court by stopping the summoning of witnesses and answering of questions under cross-examination.

Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun appointed two public counsels to represent Chen in Tuesday's hearing. Another hearing was scheduled on June 16, during which Chen would be cross-examined with two former top aides who are also defendants in the case.(dpa)