According to a BBC News report, the French consulate in Hong Kong and Macau has refused to comment on reports that the consul there, March Fonbaustier, stole two expensive bottles of wine.

Mr Fonbaustier has been recalled and suspended, the Foreign Ministry said last week, without giving specific reasons for the decision. Hong Kong media reports say the wine bottles were worth up to €5,000. The consul apparently hid them in his trousers before removing them from the restaurant, the French newspaper Le Monde said, quoting sources close to the case. The main evidence in the case probably comes from CCTV footage of the restaurant, the newspaper adds.

Sources in Hong Kong said the alleged theft took place in the restaurant of a private club in the Chinese territory.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that an administrative investigation had been launched into the circumstances which led to the consul’s recall.

“Judging by the file, these facts are likely to be incompatible with the professional conduct required of a French diplomat,” he said.