Boom Boom Boris blasts back!
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TENNIS LEGEND SMASHES THOSE £54m BANKRUPTCY RUMOURS My debts? I’m not broke. I make more than 99 per cent of the world. My cards still work. My African passport? It’s got nothing to do with immunity... it’s just because I’m a humanit
IT HAS been a tumultuous year, to say the least, for Boris Becker.
The former Wimbledon champion has been declared bankrupt and forced to sell his precious trophies to begin paying off a rumoured £54 million debt, while his nine-year marriage to Lilly, the mother of his eight-year-old son, has collapsed.
Then, in a farcical twist to an already bizarre story, he was accused of falsely claiming to be a diplomat for the Central African Republic in a bid to wriggle out of paying his debts. On Friday, even the country’s foreign minister, Charles Armel Doubane, called Becker’s diplomatic passport a fake.
So it’s a surprise to see the tennis legend so ebullient. He’s frustrated, yes, but still instantly recognisable as the irrepressible, confidently – and often bluntly – outspoken Boris whose BBC commentary will again entertain and inform Wimbledon fans when the tournament starts next week.
And in a series of volleys of the same ferocity that earned him the nickname Boom Boom Becker during his stellar tennis career, he hits back, saying:
He’s not bankrupt – in fact he makes ‘more money than 99 per cent of the world’ and has paid the money he owes;
He is a genuine diplomat with the passport to prove it, and he took the role purely because of his ‘passion for humanitarian affairs’;
Divorcing his second wife at the age of 50 makes him ‘conservative’ compared to other celebrities.
Boris admits that since the High Court declared him insolvent on June 21, 2017, ‘it’s probably been the most difficult year of my life. The case has put a lot of pressure on me. I know how it looks from the outside. Whatever I owe, the price I’m paying is much higher.’
But after reading the torrent of stories about himself – in which he claims ‘the only thing they did write correctly was my name’ – he’s here to set the record straight. And, he says, the true picture is very different from what’s been reported.
First and foremost, he says: ‘I’m not broke’ – emphasising he’s been made personally bankrupt, not professionally bankrupt.
‘Boris Becker plc is doing very well. We are still making more money than 99 per cent of the world, let’s be realistic. I have plenty of money in my account, my credit card works and everything’s normal.
‘Yet the whole world is asking, “But how can you pay for dinner? How can you pay for your flat? We thought you were bankrupt.” But as far as I’m concerned, I’ve paid all I owe. I’m not running from my responsibilities. On the contrary, I would like to close the insolvency book as quickly as possible.’
Most of what’s happened is, he insists, a big misunderstanding, which he describes in detail during our meeting at his agent’s office. His blue eyes fix me with an intense e gaze throughout the conversation, but when he smiles, his face transforms back into that of the goodnatured boy from Germany who won Wimbledon aged just 17 in n 1985. Wearing an expensive suit paired with red Puma trainers, his hair slicked back and a smattering g of sunburn, he looks relaxed, but says he is ready to do battle.
‘I’ve never been afraid of a fight,’ he says, with a flash of the grit that won him six major singles titles.
He triggered a collective raising of eyebrows earlier this month when it was reported that he had become a diplomat for the Central African Republic. As his lawyers pointed out to the High Court, this would make him immune from bankruptcy proceedings under the 1961 Vienna Convention. To critics, the timing of his appointment as sports ambassador to a tiny nation seemed a little too convenient.
Cherubin Moroubama, chief of staff for the nation’s foreign ministry, said: ‘The diplomatic passport that he has is a fake’, adding that its serial number corresponded to a batch stolen in 2014. The country’s prosecutor is now investigating.
But according t o Boris, hi s appointment is real and he has the paperwork to prove it.
‘I was approached by the ambassador of the CAR in March and consequently met the President who asked if I’d be interested in representing the country internationally, and I was very honoured,’ he says. ‘I was inaugurated by the president in April in Brussels, witnessed by dignitaries from the CAR and my own legal advisers as well as the ambassador who gave me the diplomatic documents and a passport which i s currently at t he US embassy in Brussels for visa applications, so I don’t have it with me.
‘I agree that the comments from the foreign minister and his office are confusing and perplexing. I’m very keen this should be resolved.’
And he insists: ‘My appointment has nothing to do with my insolvency case. Humanitarian affairs are something I care deeply about.’
But Boris, I ask, have you ever been to the Central African Republic? ‘No, not yet, I was only recently appointed,’ he says, adding quickly: ‘We’ve been looking at dates, but the President is a busy man.’
He says the reason the High Court was told of his new diplomatic status was purely because he was bound to disclose his new, offi- cial address in Brussels. Can he see, though, how it could be viewed as a scheme cooked up to help him out of his predicament?
‘I can see why it could look like that,’ he concedes. ‘But that’s why I’m talking to The Mail on Sunday now, to put the record straight.’
Boris denies that his split from Lilly, with whom he has a son, Amadeus, has anything to do with his financial woes. ‘ A marriage break-up doesn’t happen overnight – it’s a long process,’ he says.
‘We are moving on and ultimately, there will be a divorce. It’s being done as amicably as possible and our main concern is Amadeus. Lilly’s a wonderful woman and a great mother, but people unfortunately break up.’
The continuing interest in his private life frustrates him. ‘When I look at how many celebrities have been married and divorced since I split up with my first wife, Barbara 19 years ago, I’m very conservative.
‘This has been the most difficult year of my life’
My second divorce and I’m 50 – could be worse!’ He’s aware some people assume a major reason for his money troubles are the payouts he’s made to women, first to Barbara, mother of his two eldest sons, in 2000, then to Russian model Angela Ermakova, with whom he fathered a daughter, Anna, after a tryst in a London restaurant. ‘That’s absolutely not accurate,’ he says. ‘I had a pre-nup with my first wife and a divorce in Germany so whatever people fantasised about a double-digit million number, not true. But more i mportantly, we’re on great terms. And Anna is on great form and my relationship with her mother is intact.’ He’s found recent reports about his mansion in Majorca being taken over by squatters perplexing ‘because I sold it two years ago. It’s terrible that squatters are there, but it’s not mine’.
Becker’s problems stem from a loan taken out with private bank Arbuthnot Latham, who launched the insolvency case over a reported £9 million he owes them.
Becker puts the figure at £3.4 mill i on and claims that the bank charged him 25 per cent interest – claims the bank deny.
He also claims the bank has used his celebrity status to demand more, and says he tried to find a solution before the bankruptcy judgment last June, such as moving the loan to another bank. ‘But there was no chance for me to negotiate a settlement. They refused to meet me and my advisers and they kept moving me into insolvency.’
But the bank say: ‘Mr Becker’s colourful version of events simply does not tally with the facts and has already been dismissed by a judge. Arbuthnot Latham has at all times dealt with Mr Becker er in good faith.’
The £ 54 million figure bandied about for Boris’s total debts – including a claim for £34 million from a Swiss businessman – is absurd, he says. ‘ How can you spend that much? Do you see any yachts?’
But he says. ‘I have a good income and can spend whatever I want.’
He can’t deny he’s made some poor business decisions over the years. In 2002, he received a two-year suspended sentence in Germany for tax evasion. Some of his businesses, including the website Sportgate, have failed. ‘Mistakes have been made, but Sportgate was almost 20 years ago. That’s business.’
He adds: ‘I’ve never been driven by money. I won my first Wimbledon and forgot to take the pay check because it wasn’t important to me. I just wanted to win.’ Still, he was ‘completely taken aback’ by the High Court judgment, which he says, in typical Boris-speak, ‘happened to me like a baby to a virgin’.
He believes the assets which have been collected from him in the past year by the court-appointed trustees from law firm Smith & Williamson, which total £4.4 million, more than cover the debt. ‘I’m happy to pay back what I owe,’ he says.
Theoretically, he should have been discharged from bankruptcy last week, a year after the ruling. However, the situation is rumbling on. ‘The trustee wants to prolong the insolvency for at least another six months because he doesn’t believe I’m co-operative,’ he says.
Boris does not believe the trustee is as neutral as he should be. ‘For some reason, t hey were fascinated with selling all my trophies, although I explained to them that they have strong emotional value but very little financial value. There was no need to do it, but that’s just taking the knife and digging it into my heart and saying, “We have you and we can do what we want.” ’
The trustees, however, say their job is to act in the best interests of Boris’s creditors and say the sale of his trophies and memorabilia should raise more than £200,000, ‘not a sum we consider immaterial’.
Becker says he is preparing a counter-suit against the bank for malpractice and gross negligence. ‘The fact is we’re going back to court soon to fight this and expect to win. I strongly feel that they were taking advantage of my fame and they thought I couldn’t afford to go to court so I would probably agree to pay a much higher sum.
‘ If you want to blackmail me, you’ve picked t he wrong guy because I’m happy to fight. ‘W ‘ What t hey are doing i sn’t r right. It’s probably the toughest match of my life, but I’m not afraid. Let’s play. I’ve never been known as someone to run away.’
He now has until July 30 to present evidence that he has paid what he owes and he hopes his insolvency will be over in October. ‘I’m looking fo forward to having this difficult year out of the way,’ he says.
He’s also excited about Wimbledon, which begins on July 2. ‘It’s the best part of the year for me, working for the BBC and talking about tennis. This country has adopted me, it’s my home and I love it.
‘I’ve had to concentrate at times on keeping my spirits and sense of humour up by remembering what my passion is.’
He says his ordeal has made him more reflective. ‘Some of what has happened I think is because I’m Boris Becker, a celebrity. But that’s the price to pay for all the opportunities I’ve had.
‘I have a chance now to wipe the slate clean, to learn from my mistakes, to associate myself with better people perhaps. I’m not bitter. I’m healthy, I have a job I love and a wonderful family. I have a lot going for me.’
‘Mr Becker’s version does not tally with the facts’