June 22 (Bloomberg) -- The German prosecutor investigating the alleged abduction by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency of a German of Lebanese origin said that the man's account is credible.

Khaled el-Masri said he was seized while on holiday in Macedonia on New Year's Eve, 2003, and transported to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan. There he was subjected to inhumane conditions and coercive interrogation before being released again, he said.

``There are no indications that the facts el-Masri has described haven't happened in that way,'' Munich prosecutor Martin Hofmann today told a parliamentary inquiry that is looking into the government's role in fighting terrorism.

Germany's chancellery and foreign ministry have both rejected claims that the government in any way assisted in the alleged kidnapping. They were first notified of the matter after el-Masri was set free, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Dec. 14 last year. El-Masri's defense lawyer Manfred Gnjidic wrote to them about his client's case on June 8, 2004, which prompted the government to look into the matter, Steinmeier said.

Hofmann said he had asked justice authorities in Macedonia, Albania, the U.S. and Spain to confirm el-Masri's statement though had yet to receive any reply from the U.S. or Spain.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the upper house of parliament on Dec. 15 last year that then U.S. ambassador to Germany Daniel Coats on May 31, 2004, had informed former Interior Minister Otto Schily about el-Masri's abduction in Macedonia and his deportation to Afghanistan in 2003.

Questioned in German

Hofmann also told the inquiry that he has no information about the identity of a man who el-Masri said questioned him in German during his abduction.

``The fact that he spoke German doesn't automatically mean that he was German, or a member of any German authority,'' said Hoffmann.

Wolf-Dietrich Mengel, a German citizen, then told the inquiry that he had telephoned the German embassy in Skopje, Macedonia, to tell them that he had become aware of the arrest of a fellow German during the course of his work with ``Macedonia Telecom'', which he said is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG. ``We know his already,'' an embassy official told Mengel, he said, without being able to identify the person.

Alongside el-Masri's alleged abduction, the inquiry set up on April 7 is examining whether the BND Federal Intelligence Service provided intelligence to the U.S. at or around the time of the invasion of Iraq in 2003; whether the Federal Criminal Police Office questioned terror suspects being held abroad; and alleged CIA flights carrying suspected terrorists through European airspace, a process known as extraordinary rendition.

Former Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer may have to appear before the committee, Hans-Christian Stroebele, a lawmaker from the opposition Greens and member of the inquiry, has said. It may also call on Steinmeier, who as chief of staff under Schroeder was responsible for the intelligence services until November last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Rach in Berlin at crach1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 22, 2006 10:47 EDT