The Central African Republic (CAR) said on Tuesday that a diplomatic passport that tennis star Boris Becker claims entitles him to immunity in bankruptcy proceedings in Britain "is a fake."
"The diplomatic passport that he has is a fake," foreign ministry chief of staff Cherubin Moroubama told AFP.
The document's serial number corresponded to one of a batch of "new passports that were stolen in 2014," he said.
In addition, the passport - a copy of which has been seen by AFP, and bears the date of March 19, 2018 - does not carry the signature or the stamp of the foreign minister, Charles Armel Doubane, Moroubama said.
On Friday, lawyers for Germany's three-time Wimbledon champion lodged a claim in the High Court in Britain saying that he had been appointed a sports attache for the CAR to the European Union (EU) in April.
This, they argued, granted him immunity under the 1961 Vienna Diplomatic Convention on Diplomatic Relations from bankruptcy proceedings over failure to pay a long-standing debt.
"Becker's job profile does not exist" in the CAR's records, Moroubama said.
Will the BBC still use Becker as a pundit for Wimbledon, not that the fee would make a dent in the £54 Million he allegedly owes folk.
Will the BBC still use Becker as a pundit for Wimbledon, not that the fee would make a dent in the £54 Million he allegedly owes folk.