TAIPEI, July 16, 2010 (AFP) - Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian on Friday claimed that two properties he owned in the United States were bought with legitimate funds after the US government sought to expropriate them.

The US government went to court Wednesday seeking to expropriate the properties, allegedly bought with bribe money Chen and his wife received while in power.

But Chen's office refuted the allegations saying in a statement: "The Chen family bought the two houses with political donations... the money was not ill-gotten and it is too flimsy for the (US authorities) to jump to any conclusion.

"We will collaborate with the US judicial department in its investigation to clarify the case and return justice to the Chens," it said.

According to the civil forfeiture complaint filed in New York and Virginia, former first lady Wu Shu-chen was paid six million dollars to prevent her husband's government from interfering with a company's takeover bid for a rival firm in Taiwan.

The complaint states Wu laundered the bribe money using shell companies and Swiss bank accounts controlled by her son and his wife. Some of the money was transferred to the United States to buy an apartment in Manhattan and a house in Keswick, Virginia.

Chen and his wife were convicted last year in Taiwan of embezzling state funds, laundering money, accepting bribes and committing forgery and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Taiwan's High Court last month reduced the couple's sentences to 20 years in prison after concluding that less money was embezzled than previously assumed.

Chen has blasted his trial as a vendetta carried out by the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang administration in retaliation for his pro-independence stance during his 2000-2008 term.