June 17 (Bloomberg) -- A congressional committee plans to investigate baseball slugger Sammy Sosa’s testimony in 2005 that he never used illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

“The Oversight and Government Reform Committee always takes seriously suggestions that a witness misled the committee while testifying under oath,” panel chairman Edolphus Towns said today in a written statement. “Investigators will begin a review of this matter and, upon learning the results, I will determine appropriate next steps.”

Towns, a New York Democrat, issued his statement in response to a New York Times report yesterday that Sosa, 40, was one of 104 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. Sosa, a native of the Dominican Republic, denied using the drugs when he testified in 2005.

“I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything,” Sosa testified then. “I have not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic. I have been tested as recently as 2004, and I am clean.”

Sosa, who ranks sixth all-time with 609 home runs, hadn’t been publicly linked to a positive test for performance- enhancing drugs before now. He last played in the major leagues with the Texas Rangers in 2007.

Sosa’s lawyer, Jay K. Reisinger, a partner at Pittsburgh- based Farrell, Reisinger & Stallings, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 17, 2009 18:02 EDT