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Boris Becker's diplomatic passport is '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.

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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.

Furthermore, the passport says that Becker's diplomatic function is "financial charge de mission," a role that "has nothing to do with sporting questions," he noted.

In April, the 50-year-old former tennis star had tweeted a picture of himself shaking hands with CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera at a meeting in Brussels.

Becker shook up the tennis world at Wimbledon in 1985 when, as an unseeded player, he became the then youngest-ever male Grand Slam champion at the age of 17, defending the trophy the following year.

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The German went on to enjoy a glittering career and amassed more than $25 million (21.65 million euros) in prize money.

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