Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Alaska Senator Ted Stevens testified at his trial on charges of hiding more than $250,000 in gifts that he never intended to lie on his Senate financial disclosure forms and thought they were accurate.

Immediately after taking the witness stand today, Stevens answered, ``Yes, sir,'' when asked by defense lawyer Brendan Sullivan whether he believed the Senate forms at the heart of the case were correct when he signed them.

Asked if he ever intended to file a false statement, the senator said, ``No I did not.''

The 84-year-old senator is accused of failing to report home renovations and other gifts from Veco Corp., an Alaska oil- services company, and Bill Allen, the company's founder. Prosecutors say Veco and Allen provided free labor and materials to install a new first floor, garage and other improvements to his home in Girdwood, Alaska.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, is charged with seven felony counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms. The senator's lawyers deny wrongdoing and say he and his wife paid every bill they received. He is seeking re-election on Nov. 4.

Stevens will resume testifying tomorrow.

Earlier today, his wife Catherine testified on her husband's behalf that she oversaw the renovations and signed checks for them.

``I had the time and the interest'' to focus on the project, she said. ``Ted was too busy.''

`We Would Pay'

``I believed that any work that was done on the chalet we were billed for and we would pay for,'' she said. ``We've been billed and paid for work that has been done on the chalet for over 17 years.''

Later, under cross-examination by a prosecutor, Catherine Stevens said improvements such as a new deck on the first floor were added without her knowledge.

``I thought a bill was coming in for the work on the first floor,'' she said. ``I don't know if a bill came in. I forgot about it.''

She said she visited the home ``a couple of times a year'' during the renovations in 2000-2002. She said other unrequested improvements were made, including a new flight of stairs on the rear of the house, a new gas grill and a large sculpture of a salmon.

Stevens described her husband as a ``classic workaholic'' so preoccupied with his Senate duties that he would bring work home and answer inquiries late into the evening.

`Works All the Time'

``He works all the time,'' she said. ``He insists on reading every memo.''

The senator's wife testified that bills for the renovation were sent to Bob Persons, a friend of Stevens who helped oversee the work at the home, because Persons lived in Girdwood year- round and the Stevens home had no mail service.

Earlier today, Persons testified that the senator accepted a $2,700 massage chair as a ``loan'' to avoid U.S. Senate financial disclosure rules.

Persons, owner of the ``Double Musky Inn'' restaurant in Girdwood, told jurors that the senator said he couldn't accept the chair as a gift because of the Senate rules but would take it as a ``loan'' for his residence in Washington.

``He just told me he couldn't accept it and it should be just a loan,'' Persons testified. ``I should have got it out of there but it was 3,500 miles away.''

He said he intended the chair as a gift and never got it back.

Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho watched Stevens's testimony from the courtroom audience, and the two senators shook hands during a break.

The case is U.S. v. Stevens, 08cr231, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nadine Elsibai in Washington at nelsibai@bloomberg.net; Cary O'Reilly in Washington at caryoreilly@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 16, 2008 17:10 EDT