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 The inquiry, in response to a congressional request, amounts to an initial look at facts surrounding the case. It does not mean charges will be brought against the Houston Astros shortstop, who in 2002 won his MVP award while with Oakland.
"The Justice Department has referred the Miguel Tejada matter to the FBI, and a preliminary inquiry will be conducted," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Thursday.
Investigators with the FBI's field office in Washington will handle the inquiry. It is unclear how long initial fact-finding will take.
"I don't have any comment," said Tejada's lawyer, Mark Tuohey, who said he was unaware of the FBI's involvement until contacted by The Associated Press.
At issue are comments Tejada gave to House committee investigators in August 2005 when he was with the Baltimore Orioles. He denied during the interview that he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs or knew of other players using or talking about steroids.
Tejada was among a number of star athletes named in a lengthy report by former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, released last month, that looked at drug use in baseball.
The Astros had no comment on news that the FBI is now investigating Tejada. Drayton McLane, the Astros owner, was attending the baseball owners' meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., and was not immediately available for comment.
Tejada was in the Dominican Republic for the funeral of his brother, who died Tuesday in a motorcycle accident there.
"It's important we determine whether Mr. Tejada misled an investigative committee of the House of Representatives," said Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee. "It's also important that those who come before the committee understand we are serious when we tell them they must tell the truth or face serious penalties."
Tejada's interview with congressional aides, held Aug. 26, 2005, at a Baltimore hotel, was in connection with an inquiry over whether his then-teammate, Rafael Palmeiro, had used steroids. Palmeiro had denied during House testimony in March that year that he had used steroids, then tested positive later in 2005 and was suspended for 10 days. He said his positive test could have resulted from a B-12 vitamin injection given to him by Tejada.
The House Oversight and Government Committee this week asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate Tejada's statements, parts of which were included in a letter to the Justice Department.
"Has there been discussion among other players about steroids?" a committee staffer asked, according to the letter.
"No, I never heard," Tejada replied.
"You never knew of any other player using steroids?" Tejada was asked.
"No," he replied.
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"Have you ever taken a steroid before?" he was asked at another point.
"No," he said.
Tejada also answered "No" when asked if he had ever taken any illegal performance-enhancing drugs or any other steroid precursor.
The Mitchell report includes statements by Adam Piatt, Tejada's former teammate with the Oakland Athletics, who said he gave Tejada steroids and HGH in 2003. Mitchell also included copies of checks allegedly written by Tejada to Piatt in March 2003 for $3,100 and $3,200.
Making false statements to Congress is a felony.
The House committee also has looked into whether Palmeiro should face perjury charges, but eventually dropped the matter.
Tejada, who won his MVP award with the Oakland Athletics, was traded to Houston from Baltimore on Dec. 12
-- one day before the Mitchell Report was released.
Selig, given a three-year extension through 2012 at Thursday's owners' meeting, took a softer tone on management than he did during his congressional testimony Tuesday, when he said club officials could face "very serious discipline" for not passing along information about possible drug use.
"All this business about owners have turned their head and so on and so forth, there just is no fact to that, there's no truth to that," he said. "Now, were we slow to react? OK, people can make that observation, whether we all agree or not is not important."
Selig also hinted that rather than turn over drug testing to an outside body, as recommended by the World Anti-Doping Agency, baseball would seek to make changes to its current system, in which management and the union jointly pick an independent administrator.
As of now, either side can fire the administrator at any time. The sides could agree to a fixed term and that the administrator could be dismissed only for cause.
"I want us to tighten this program in every way, shape and form," Selig said. "I want to strengthen it in every way
-- more testing. I think we've come to that, and we should do that."
[Associated Press; By LARA JAKES JORDAN]
AP Sports Writers Andy Bagnato in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Howard Fendrich in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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