LORD BLACK of Crossharbour, the chairman of Hollinger International, is facing a call for a formal investigation into $73.7 million (£45 million) of payments made to senior executives of the media group.

The call, on the eve of what is expected to be an acrimonious annual meeting in New York today, comes from lawyers representing Tweedy,Browne, a New York investment company.

The payments to Hollinger executives were part of “non-compete” agreements signed when the owner of the Daily Telegraph sold a number of its North American newspapers. The $73.7 million was paid in compensation for the directors agreeing not to set up or own competing titles.

The money, Tweedy, Browne says, should have gone to the company rather than to Lord Black and three other directors.

The letter and documents, also filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, call for the “disgorgement of the payments” made under the non-compete agreements.

Christopher Browne, manager of Tweedy, Browne, which owns 13.2 million shares in Hollinger International, said that he expected the independent directors of the company to investigate the payments.

The independent directors include Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State, and Richard Perle, former chairman of the Defence Policy Board.

Mr Browne says that Hollinger International now has between 60 and 90 days to respond. If it fails to do so, the Tweedy, Browne executive says he will ask a court for an independent investigation.