German prosecutors investigate Gazprom executive

DUESSELDORF, Germany, May 6 (Reuters) - State prosecutors in Germany have opened an investigation into a senior German executive of Russian energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) on suspicion of perjury, authorities said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Cologne said the inquiry aimed to establish whether Felix Strehober, Gazprom's finance chief in Germany, had lied under oath that he had never worked for East Germany's feared secret police, the Stasi.

German daily Die Welt reported on Tuesday that documents held by the agency in charge of the Stasi archives showed Strehober worked for the secret police from the mid-1980s until the dissolution of the former Communist state in 1990.

Prosecutors said Strehober's testimony would be checked and that he was due to be questioned.

Gazprom Germania had no comment, save that the issue was a private matter. Under German law, perjury convictions carry a jail sentence of up to three years, or a fine.

(Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff, writing by Dave Graham)