The tax evasion trial for Cook County Commissioner William Beavers began in federal court Monday.

Beavers, 78, a former Chicago cop and South Side alderman, is accused of taking $226,000 over a three-year period from his campaign funds for personal use, including gambling. He is alleged to have used more than $68,000 in campaign funds to increase his council pension, according to the indictment.

Beavers’ defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. has argued Beavers only took the campaign funds as a loan and later, when he put it back, modified his tax returns.

But, according to the Chicago Tribune, questions arise over whether the funds were ever intended to be returned, considering they were only deposited a month after the FBI announced its investigation. His tax returns were revised around the same time.

"As the trial will bear out, the commissioner paid his taxes and never violated any laws," Adam said in a statement. Beavers proclaimed today that he will be testifying in the trial that is likely to run about one week long.

"I've got to tell what these people are really about," Beavers said in the courthouse today about investigators. "And if I don't get on the stand, people will never know. They tell some tall tales."

Beavers alleges the FBI is targeting him because he refused to wear a wire while talking to a colleague, Cook County Commissioner John Daley.