Ex-tennis star Boris Becker was declared bankrupt by a UK court last year, putting him in massive debt. Becker and his team of lawyers submitted a claim saying:
[Becker] had been appointed a sports attache for the CAR to the European Union (EU) in April. This granted him immunity under the 1961 Vienna Diplomatic Convention on Diplomatic Relations from bankruptcy proceedings over failure to pay a long-standing debt.
The supporting documents were a diplomatic passport from the CAR and the following tweet:
H.E President Prof. Faustin Archange Touadéra in Brussels yesterday appointing me as its Attache’ for Sports/Humanitarian/Cultural Affaires in the European Union 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/ACp3sDynQn
— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) April 27, 2018
But according to the foreign minister of the Central African Republic, this passport was never officially issued to Becker, it was not signed or authenticated by any CAR officials, and the serial number matched to a batch of unissued passports that were stolen in 2014.
Becker’s lawyers had already pleaded with the court to be lenient on him because he already wasn’t a “sophisticated individual” when it came to money, but this takes the cake.
No formal charges have been made, but the bankruptcy case still stands.