‘The signature was not mine’: Minister says Boris Becker’s diplomatic passport a ‘fake’
Related Story: Boris Becker claims diplomatic immunity in bankruptcy case
Central African Republic's Foreign Minister says a copy of former tennis champion Boris Becker's diplomatic passport he has seen is a "clumsy fake".
Becker said he had claimed diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in London by taking up a role with Central African Republic (CAR) as a sports envoy.
But the country's Foreign Minister, Charles Armel Doubane, said the diplomatic passport he had seen was a fake.
"The signature on the passport was not mine and the number belongs to a series that was stolen during the transitional government [set up in 2014 after the country's civil conflict]," he said.
"The copy of Boris Becker's passport that I saw and that has been circulating on social media is a clumsy fake."
He said CAR was launching an inquiry into who issued the phoney diplomatic passport to Becker.
Becker's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
The 50-year-old was declared bankrupt by a British court last year in connection to a debt owed to private bankers Arbuthnot Latham.
He had recently been pursued for "further assets", according to a statement by his lawyers.
Becker's argument against 'gravy train for the suits'
The former tennis champion lodged a claim at the High Court in London to halt the case, and claimed his appointment as a diplomat by the CAR afforded him protection.
Becker's lawyers argued his post as attache diplomatic immunity under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which meant he "cannot be subject to legal process in the courts of any country for so long as he remains a recognised diplomatic agent".
Through his lawyers, Becker had said the bank's decision to sue him was "both unjustified and unjust".
"A bunch of anonymous and unaccountable bankers and bureaucrats pushed me into a completely unnecessary declaration of bankruptcy, which has inflicted a whole heap of damage on me," he said late last week.
"Once this gravy train for the suits has been stopped in its tracks, my lawyers will turn to the question of compensation."
In the statement, Becker went on say his attache role for the CAR would allow him to give something meaningful back to sports supporters in one of the poorest parts of the world.
"There's no reason why a role of this kind should be treated any differently to an appointment as a military or a trade attache, which everyone recognises as attracting diplomatic immunity," he said.
During his tennis career Becker stacked up six grand slam titles but in recent years his life has been a roller coaster.
He lost much of his fortune, had a messy divorce and became the butt of jokes for his flings.
Reuters/ABC
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