LAHORE, Sept 26: In a strong reply to the legal notice sent by former Pakistan captain Moin Khan on Thursday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has asked him to pay an amount of Rs250 million in damages within a period of 14 days.

On Sept 19, Moin sent a legal notice to the PCB, demanding Rs100 million for defaming his name by issuing wrong press statements regarding Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf’s dispute with the Indian cricket League (ICL) over a contract breach.

On Friday, PCB’s lawyer Taffazul H. Rizvi dispatched a legal notice addressed to Moin’s lawyer Imran Aziz Qureshi , also alleging that the former Test cricketer did not pay the full amount to Yousuf while signing a contract with him for the ICL last year.

“That it is also pertinent to mention here that your client on 30-8-2007, received from its Principal Essel an amount of US$82,500 to be paid to Mohammad Yousuf as the first instalment for signing the agreement but the amount paid to Yousuf by him was only US$52,000 which clearly shows that your client is not fair in his transactions and is apparently siphoning off the amounts received for Principal Essel on behalf of the players,” the notice states.

According to the notice: “That in the said notice, your client has accepted that he himself and his company — Game On (Pvt) Ltd — acted as an agent of Essel Sports (Pvt) Limited on whose behalf payment was made to Yousuf after your client approached Yousuf and requested him to play for a league in the style of Indian Cricket League (ICL) organised by Essel.

“That your client got a player’s participation agreement signed by Yousuf and the same was signed by your client for and on behalf of Essel and assured Yousuf that the same in no way hinders him to play for his home country.

“However, contrary to this Yousuf later discovered that the ICL has been declared a rebel league by the BCCI and the ICC and any player participating in the ICL shall not be allowed to represent his home country.

“Yousuf who is a patriotic Pakistani and has won many awards and titles for his country and is a national asset, on coming to know of this, approached your client and demanded an explanation on which your client gave him an offer that the player’s participation agreement will be terminated if Yousuf returns the money received by him from your client,” the notice adds.

“Yousuf duly accepted this offer of your client and returned in full the money received by him from your client on account of Essel. The receipt of the same has been admitted by you in your notice. Further the same was received back by your client without any objection.

“That after the valid termination of the agreement as per the advice of your client, Essel in connivance with your client, initiated arbitration proceedings against Yousuf in India which are still pending, due to which Yousuf was unable to take part in the 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL), a league approved by the BCCI and the ICC,” it says further.

“Yousuf is one of your client’s key players and is considered to be the backbone of Pakistan cricket team. Your client through the instant notice which has been copied to individuals and various news channels, has once again tried to malign him.

“All other baseball, whimsical and capricious claims made by your client in his notice are vehemently denied as false and incorrect. It is rather Yousuf who has suffered colossal financial losses due to the said arbitration proceedings pending in India,” it states.

“As one of the main players of our clients, he is continuously suffering from mental torture and agony due to these proceedings. Further, the arbitrator acted with bias against Yousuf by ordering a status quo which is tantamount to depriving Yousuf of his right to play cricket.

“This order is destroying Yousuf’s career.

“Take note that our client has suffered due to your client’s maliciously attempting to defame his creditability and injure the reputation of our client by copying such notices to individuals and the media.

“This instant reply should be treated as a notice of action under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002. And unless your client pays an amount of Rs250 million as damages within a period of 14 days after receiving this reply, appropriate legal action will be initiated,” the legal notice concludes.