Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican senator, was on Tuesday charged with seven counts of perjury for concealing gifts valued at more than $250,000 in a move that could put another Republican seat in jeopardy in the forthcoming congressional elections.

Mr Stevens, 84, who was first elected to the Senate in 1968, is alleged to have knowingly filed false information on his disclosure forms, including omitting details about the renovation of his Alaska home by an oil services company, the justice department said on Tuesday.