Boris Becker challenges Central African Republic on passport forgery allegations

'I have now asserted diplomatic immunity as I am in fact bound to do, in order to bring this farce to an end, so that I can start to rebuild my life'

Boris Becker was declared bankrupt in 2017 (Philip Toscano/PA Wire/PA Images)

Boris Becker has insisted that he is a diplomat for the Central African Republic, after the troubled nation’s foreign minister said the tennis player’s passport was counterfeit.

The three-time Wimbledon champion used his ambassadorial role for CAR to shield himself from bankruptcy proceedings in the UK, provoking bewilderment.

He told Andrew Marr on Sunday that, contrary to reports, he is not running away from his debt but simply “informing the trustee and the courts about my position as I legally have to do.”

"The decision to commence bankruptcy proceedings against me was both unjustified and unjust,” he said at the time.

"I have now asserted diplomatic immunity as I am in fact bound to do, in order to bring this farce to an end, so that I can start to rebuild my life."

Marr, asked Becker about the veracity of his CAR passport and quoted Charles Armel Doubane, the foreign minister, who said that his signature on Mr Becker’s diplomatic document had been forged.

The president’s spokesman, Albert Yaloke Mokpeme, said Becker had never been appointed as CAR’s attache to the European Union on sporting, cultural and humanitarian affairs.

Becker said his passport was legitimate and that he had met the president on three or four occasions, and had also met the ambassador many times.

“I don’t know what is going on within the politics of central Africa but I have received this passport from the ambassador,” he said. “I believe the documents they’re giving me must be right.”

He claimed that although he had gone through personal bankruptcy during the last 12 months, he believed the case should now be closed since he has repaid his debt of almost €4m.

“When you mention the name Boris Becker people lose their reality or their sense of facts and they start imagining things that are absolutely not true,” he said.

However, the private banking firm Arbuthnot Latham said they are still owed a significant sum and challenged Becker’s version of events.

When asked by Marr what went wrong for him, he said: “I’ve been fortunate enough for the last 33 years to make a lot of money. I made my first million at 17 years old winning at SW19, I’ve been blessed, I come from a good family background, so money was never the incentive and never the issue. I think there were different problems that came along.”