Boris Becker claims diplomatic immunity in bankruptcy case
LONDON, June 15, 2018 (AFP) - Three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker announced Friday he is claiming diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in Britain as an ambassador for the Central African Republic.
Lawyers for the 50-year-old tennis player, a former world number one, lodged a claim Thursday in the High Court asserting immunity after he was appointed a sports attaché for the Central African Republic in April.
Becker -- who won six Grand Slams in the 1980s and 90s -- was declared bankrupt by a London court in June 2017 for failing to pay a long-standing debt.
But his position as attaché to the European Union on sporting, cultural and humanitarian affairs could be covered by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
This means the consent of Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his counterpart in Bangui would be needed before Becker is subjected to any legal pro- ceedings, his lawyers said.
The bankruptcy application was made by private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co in relation to a debt owed to them by Becker dating to 2015.
Becker, however, said: "The decision to commence bankruptcy proceedings against me was both unjustified and unjust.
"A bunch of anonymous and unaccountable bankers and bureaucrats pushed me into a completely unnecessary declaration of bankruptcy, which has inflicted a whole heap of damage on me, both commercially and professionally, and on those close to me," he added, in a statement issued by his lawyers.
"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."
A spokesman for Arbuthnot, contacted by AFP in London, declined to comment.
When asked about Becker, European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told a daily news briefing in Brussels on Friday: "We have neither been involved in this appointment, nor been asked for EU accreditation.
"So as concerns the role he is playing, maybe best to ask your questions to the authorities of the Central African Republic."
Mark Stephens, a lawyer with Londonbased law firm Howard Kennedy and an expert in diplomatic immunity, said Becker "should not be allowed to avoid accountability just because he has a role with the Central African Republic".
Stephens told Britain's Press Association: "The Vienna Convention which established diplomatic immunity was intended to protect the highest members of state -- sovereigns, prime ministers, that sort of thing -not advisers to fishing organisations, say.
The trustees handling the bankruptcy said they "do not accept these assertions" made by Becker.
"We welcome Mr Becker's appointment to promote sport in the Central African Republic. However, we believe that it has no material impact on Mr Becker's bankruptcy," trustee Mark Ford said in a statement.
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.
The German went on to enjoy a glittering career and amassed more than $25 million in prize money.
Becker's tangled private life has also kept him in the news.
He has a daughter conceived in a brief but now famous encounter with a Russian model who claimed she met Becker at a London bar and had sex with him in a broom cupboard at a nearby Japanese restaurant.
In January, Becker appealed for help in tracking down five missing Grand Slam trophies which he said he needed to sell to help pay off his debts.