Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Roger Clemens's denial that he used steroids and human growth hormone will be reviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the first step in possible perjury charges against the former All-Star pitcher.

The FBI opened the preliminary review a day after a congressional committee told Attorney General Michael Mukasey in a letter that Clemens may have lied under oath in the panel's investigation of drug use in Major League Baseball.

Clemens's denials were contradicted by sworn testimony from former trainer Brian McNamee and ex-teammate Andy Pettitte, which raised ``significant questions'' about Clemens's truthfulness, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis said in the letter to Mukasey.

``The request to open an investigation into the congressional testimony of Roger Clemens has been turned over to the FBI and will receive appropriate investigative action,'' bureau spokesman Richard Kolko said.

Clemens's lawyer Rusty Hardin said the FBI review was no surprise.

``We've always expected they would open an investigation,'' Hardin said in an e-mailed statement. ``They attended the congressional hearing. So, what's new?''

In preliminary reviews, the FBI and prosecutors typically look at the facts of a case and decide whether to open a formal criminal investigation.

Trainer, Teammate

McNamee testified that he injected Clemens 20 times with steroids and human growth hormone. Pettitte told the committee in a deposition and affidavit that Clemens admitted in 1999 or 2000 that he used HGH.

Clemens, 45, testified that McNamee only injected him with vitamin B-12 and the painkiller Lidocaine, and that the trainer was trying to ``save his own skin by making up lies.'' Clemens told Congress that Pettitte, a longtime friend and training partner and his former teammate with the New York Yankees and Houston Astros, ``misremembers'' a conversation they had about HGH.

Agents from the FBI's Washington field office last month began an inquiry into whether infielder Miguel Tejada, the American League's Most Valuable Player in 2002, lied under oath when he said during a 2005 congressional hearing that he never took or talked about steroids.

No word has been released on the progress of the investigation. Tejada, now in spring training camp with the Astros, has refused to comment on the situation on the advice of his lawyers.

Mitchell Report

Tejada and Clemens were among almost 90 current and former players named as users of performance-enhancing drugs in a report by former Senator George Mitchell. The report on baseball's drug problem was released on Dec. 13, one day after Tejada was traded to the Astros from the Baltimore Orioles.

Clemens also is at the Astros' camp in Kissimmee, Florida, though not as an active player. He threw batting practice the past two days to the club's minor league players, including his son Koby, and refused comment when reporters asked him about the possible perjury investigation.

To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Schmidt in Washington at rschmidt5@bloomberg.net; Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 28, 2008 15:49 EST