Tang Shou-yi, the arms dealer suspected of making the gun and bullets used in the shooting, denied in a self-made video on Monday that the injury to Chen Shui-bian's abdomen was caused by his bullet.

On March 19, 2004, the eve of Taiwan leader elections, the Democratic Progressive Party candidates Chen Shui-bian and Lu Hsiu-lien were shot while canvassing for votes in an open jeep in the southern city of Tainan. Film footage taken at the time seemed to capture blood on Chen's shirt. The two candidates suffered minor injuries.

Many people doubted the veracity of the shooting and some claimed that it was a set-up to help Chen earn sympathy votes.

The day after the shooting, when the island went to the polls, Chen and Lu defeated their opponents, Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan and People First Party Chairman James Soong, by a razor-thin margin of 0.2 percent.

Tang was interrogated by investigators and transcripts made of the dialogues. But Tang, who has fled Taiwan, said in the video that the transcripts had been faked by investigators who asked him to cooperate with them.

Even his "flight" was arranged by prosecuting departments, Tang was reported as saying.

The man said he was sick and tired of political manipulation and his conscience would not allow him to remain silent.

Taiwan authorities concluded their investigation into the case in 2005, saying that the shooting was not staged by Chen's campaigners.

Prosecutors said Chen Yi-hsiung, described in some reports as a gangster and in others as a retired construction worker, shot at Chen's jeep.

On March 29, just 10 days after the so-called assassination attempt, Chen's drowned corpse was found at An-Ping port in Tainan City. Police concluded that it was a case of suicide.

Chen Yi-hsiung's family have since declared that he was not the shooter but that police forced them to say he was.