Chen maintained he was innocent of the charges while addressing hundreds of supporters at a rally on Saturday outside a Taoist temple in southern Tainan county, the China Times reported.

Chen, who stepped down on May 20 at the end of his second and final four-year term, forecast that he could be arrested soon as the Kuomintang government was stepping up what he described as 'political persecution' against him.

'This is very likely my last meeting with you here ... before I'm arrested and sent to the Tucheng detention centre,' Chen said.

Although Chen said 'I'm not scared, and I would be braver than ever if jailed,' he asked his supporters to rally behind him.

'A-Bian must not collapse', Chen said, referring to his nickname.

'Should I collapse, Taiwan would collapse... as long as Taiwan people support me, I will fight to the end.'

Chen's appeal came after one of his former aides, Lin Teh-hsun, was taken into custody late Friday after he was named a defendant in the money laundering case.

Lin, already indicted on perjury and forgery charges in a separate embezzlement case, was the third person detained in the investigation of the former first family.

The ex-president, his wife, son, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law and four others have all been named as defendants in the money laundering case.

According to Taiwanese prosecutors, some 21 million US dollars (30 million Singapore dollars) was sent to Swiss bank accounts belonging to Chen's daughter-in-law in 2007 and was used to set up a business registered in the Cayman Islands for suspected money laundering.

The ex-president has admitted his wife wired 20 million US dollars abroad from his past campaign funds but said she did so without his knowledge.

Chen, who came to power on independence pledges, has denied money laundering and said he was being persecuted by the China-friendly Kuomintang government.

He is already being investigated for allegedly embezzling 14.8 million Taiwan dollars (665,677 Singapore dollars) special expenses while president, and his wife is on trial in the same case. -- AFP