LAHORE The Pakistan Cricket Board has asked a solicitors firm from England to reply to the England and Wales Cricket Boards letter seeking apology from the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. The PCB with the consent of the Pakistan High Commission in the UK hired the firm to fight the spot-fixing case of the tainted Pakistan trio of Salman Butt, Muhammad Asin and Muhammad Aamir. The ECB asked the PCB chief to give full and unreserved apology for declaring the England team match-fixers. The PCB chairman offended everyone in the England camp with his remarks that Andrew Strausss team had received enormous amounts of money to lose the third one-day international at the Brit Insurance Oval. The PCB confirmed that it had received a letter from English solicitors acting for those who represented England at the One Day International last Friday September 17, in connection with statements said to have been made to the media by Ijaz Butt, chairman PCB. In this letter multiple demands have been raised. The Board has instructed London lawyers, Addleshaw Goddard, to respond on its behalf to these demands. An official of the board said that the chairman did not say any word of his own and he quoted bookies words and now the board has asked the legal firm in England to reply to the ECBs letter. However, in an interesting development, the lawyers specialising in the defamation cases have warned that the ECB could be looking at a bill of up to 1 million if it insists on legal action against Ijaz Butt. A spokesman for the legal firm Wollastons LLP was quoted by The Daily Telegraph that defamation actions are notoriously expensive and youre looking at least 1 million to take it all the way to court. According to the lawyer, the fact that Butt was in Pakistan at the time, and making his statement to the Indian TV channel NDTV, is likely to complicate any proceedings. But it would not rule out a successful prosecution. Because Pakistan is a Commonwealth country, theres a reciprocal convention whereby you can sue him here but serve the notice over there, said the spokesman. If the ECB went ahead, he would have to decide whether to come over to the UK. Even if he didnt, they could still seek a judgment in his absence, he added.