CAR says Boris Becker passport a 'fake'

Central African Republic's foreign minister has insisted that a copy of former tennis champion Boris Becker's diplomatic passport that he had seen was a "clumsy fake".

Becker announced he has claimed diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in London by taking up a role with Central African Republic (CAR) as a sports envoy.

But Charles Armel Doubane told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday: "The signature on the passport was not mine and the number belongs to a series that was stolen during the transitional government", which set up in 2014 after the country's civil conflict.

Becker's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

Doubane added that CAR was launching an inquiry into who issued the phoney diplomatic passport to Becker.

"The copy of Boris Becker's passport that I saw and that has been circulating on social media is a clumsy fake," Doubane said.

Becker, 50, was declared bankrupt by a British court in 2017 in connection to a debt to private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co.

He has recently been pursued for "further assets", according to a statement by his lawyers.

The German former world No.1 lodged a claim at the High Court in London to halt the case because his appointment as Attache to the European Union for CAR on sporting, cultural and humanitarian affairs entitled him to immunity under the 1961 Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

Central African Republic has suffered a string of bloody political crises since former president Francois Bozize seized power in a 2003 military coup, culminating in a 2012-2014 civil conflict that killed thousands and displaced millions.

Doubane said his country won't obstruct justice in any case against Becker.