ISLAMABAD The Supreme Court Monday directed the Ministry of Petroleum to submit a complete record by tomorrow regarding alleged irregularities in a billion dollar bid of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) scam. The former Finance Minister had confirmed the losses on account of the award of the contract and confessed that the Petroleum Ministry did not provide complete details of the quotations when the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) took the decision. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Ch Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Ghulam Rabbani gave the directives while hearing a suo moto case regarding A billion dollar LNG scam lands in the federal cabinet. Shaukat Tarin submitted his written statement before the court saying, I believe that there was a clear process lapse when the Fauji-Vitol proposal was not shared with the ECC. Going through the same should be presented in the ECC with proper evaluation by the Price Negotiation Committee (PNC) and the independent consultants only then the contract should be awarded to the most competitive proposal. Managing Director Fauji Foundation Ltd. Gen (R) Hamid Rab Nawaz alleged that they were intentionally dropped from the bidding. He said that earlier it was assured by the Ministry that the Fauji Foundation would be considered in the bidding. He said that the contract was awarded to French firm on the pressure of Qatari high-ups. The Secretary Finance informed the court that the Petroleum Ministry did not present all the details of the bidding before the ECC. The CJ during the hearing remarked that it looked as if the Petroleum Ministry was not taking the matter seriously. Earlier, a media report had revealed that how top guns of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources awarded a multibillion dollars contract for 3.5 million tons LNG import to a French firm after ignoring the lowest bid jointly offered by the Fauji Foundation and the Vitol. The report added that even the Prime Minister and his cabinet were not taken on board and the whole procedure was managed by the Petroleum Ministry and the ECC. As per the news report, the FF/Vitol proposal was not presented even before the bidding committee of the Ministry of Petroleum and a favourable decision was obtained by keeping the Finance Minister in dark. Thereafter, Tarin wrote a letter to the Minister for Petroleum to inquire about the reasons for ignoring the lowest bid. In the very next meeting of the ECC, the Petroleum Minister said the FF/Vitol quotation was submitted too late to be considered in the bid. As per the report, Secretary for Petroleum Kamran Lashari said the contract was awarded before he assumed charge of the Ministry, while Petroleum Minister Syed Naveed Qamar denied all charges, claiming that the FF/Vitol quotation did not suit the Ministry.