Former PCB chairman Najam Sethi on Monday sent a legal notice to his successor and incumbent board chief Ehsan Mani for allegedly defaming him.

The legal notice sent to Mani claims that the recently released numbers by the PCB regarding Sethi's remuneration and benefits received were "incorrect, misleading, grossly exaggerated and deliberately calculated to hurt" his reputation.

Read: Ehsan Mani lauds Najam Sethi's services for cricket in Pakistan

Sethi, through his counsel, denied ever receiving "an amount or Rs14,181,570 as PSL Allowance", while countering with an allegation of his own that Mani has been provided a furnished apartment by the board — which, he implies, negates the current PCB chair's claim that he is not getting an accommodation allowance.

The PCB's figures, according to the notice, mentioned a number of expenses but failed to add that "every single one of these allowances/payments were duly authorised and approved by the PCB's Board of Governors".

Furthermore, Sethi says, the PCB failed to inform that "the accounts of the PCB were audited by two external auditors".

The journalist-turned-administrator's legal team implies that their client was singled out, noting that if the purpose of the PCB's report was to disclose the allowances paid to the entire executive committee, it should also have mentioned "the payments, increments and allowances paid to Chief Financial Officer Badar Manzur and Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed" — both of whom are serving under Mani.

Sethi also points out that in 2017 the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sport had recommended that he be given "appropriate allowance for his successful staging of the PSL".

In the light of this, Sethi deduces that the purpose for the PCB to release such figures was "to malign" him "presumably at the behest of Imran Khan".

Sethi goes on to ask the board chairman to apologise and withdraw the report or else he will take legal action under the Defamation Ordinance, 2002.