Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani has admitted to not having all ends covered up in the 447 crore INR compensation claim case against the BCCI, a case which they lost in the ICC tribunal.

PCB had claimed a hefty compensation from BCCI for not honoring a MoU for playing six bilateral series between 2015-2023.

The BCCI always maintained that the one-page letter signed by erstwhile secretary Sanjay Patel was only a letter of intent and they could possibly have never played without government permission due to prevailing tension between the neighboring countries.

“It is disappointing. The fact is that before filing the case the PCB had consulted the queens counsel lawyers in England and were advised that the claim for compensation was strong and on this basis, the PCB went into arbitration and litigation,” Mani said.

“When I took over, the proceedings of the case were nearly complete and if we had withdrawn, it would have shown us as weak. But whatever the situation is right now, we have to face it and move on,” he said.

Mani said personally he believed that ICC member nations should never go into litigation and arbitration and talks were the best options.

The person to spearhead the move to file the litigation against the BCCI last year based on an alleged MoU was Najam Sethi.

“The ICC Disputes Resolution Committee didn’t accept the MOU as a legally binding agreement although they say morally India should have played against us. Perhaps the documentation on basis of which we decided to claim compensation was not as conclusive as we felt it was,” Mani said.

After winning the case, BCCI had released an official statement that India will seek costs from Pakistan for the litigation.

Ehsan Mani said that if Pakistan had won the case, they would have done the same and though they have lost, they would too seek a way to share the cost of litigation.

Mani said, “If we had won the case we would have done the same. But we will also be filing for having a look at the costs involved in the case and how it should be shared.”

Sethi had got the PCB’s Governing Board to approve an amount of one million pounds to cover costs of the litigation, which involved hiring top queens counsel in the UK. “Nearly 80 million rupees have been spent on the case,” a PCB source said.

The BCCI took the stance in the Dispute Resolution Committee hearings that the MOU was signed in return for Pakistan supporting the Big Three governance system and this didn’t happen, so there was no question of playing the series.

Mani cleared that Pakistan would like to maintain its relations with the Indian board on basis of equality and would not beg for a resumption of bilateral ties.

(With inputs indianexpress.com)