Felix Strehober, who was born in communist East Berlin in 1963 and now works as financial director of Gazprom Germania, is believed to have lied under oath about his past last year, Cologne chief prosecutor Guenther Feld said.

He made the statement after media reports surfaced accusing him of having worked for the Stasi, the former East German secret police. Over 100 documents from the Stasi archives have since been uncovered showing Strehober spied on fellow students while pursuing an economics degree in East Berlin.

Strehober, who studied in Moscow from 1978 to 1982, joined the Stasi in 1985 where he worked in intelligence until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, according to the documents.

He faces up to three years in jail or a fine for denying under oath any links to the feared former intelligence service.