French Diplomat Fired for Stealing Wine

Nice job Frenchman.  You displayed more balls in this one act than your entire country has shown over the past 500 years.

The French consul general to Hong Kong has been forced to quit after he was accused of hiding two bottles of very expensive burgundy in his suit before making a quick exit from an exclusive club.

Marc Fonbaustier, 46, who had been France's most senior diplomat in Hong Kong and Macao for more than a year, resigned last week citing "strictly personal" reasons.

But sources from the Hong Kong justice system told Le Monde that Fonbaustier was under investigation for pilfering two bottles of wine from the exclusive Hong Kong Country Club. The alleged theft was said to have taken place in the club's basement restaurant, the Wine Cellar, whose walls are lined with bottles and monitored by CCTV.

The Hong Kong paper Apple Daily reported the wine was worth up to ¤5,000 (about £4,200). The paper said that a few months previously the consul had taken a very expensive bottle of wine from the Hong Kong Golf Club but had explained to police that he had mistaken it for a gift.