ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: An accountability court on Monday remanded the jailed PPP leader, Asif Ali Zardari, to the custody of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for nine days in the newly instituted BMW case.

Asif Zardari, who has recently been arrested on the charge of importing a bulletproof BMW vehicle after he was granted bail by a Lahore court in the narcotics case, will now be produced before the accountability court on January 16.

The prosecution accused Mr Zardari of impersonation by importing the 1993 model armoured luxury vehicle in the name of a student with an intent to evade duties. With the import of the vehicle, the national exchequer was deprived of an import duty of Rs10 million during the second stint of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The judge of the Accountability Court No III, Sakhi Hussain Bokhari, deferred the proceedings with a direction to the prosecution to place details of the case in the next date of hearing.

Earlier, the deputy prosecutor general, Baseer Qureshi, had asked the court to grant 15 days’ remand of the accused so that investigations could be completed. The investigating officer, Hazrat Ali, told the court that the accused during the preliminary investigations had denied ownership of the vehicle.

On the other hand, the defence comprising Farooq Naek and Abu Bakar Zardari opposed the prosecution’s request on the grounds that they had failed to mention in the report that under which provision of law the remand was being sought.

The counsel stated that there was no need of granting physical remand of Mr Zardari and the judicial remand would suffice. The defence also stated that they were still unaware of the allegations levelled against Asif Zardari in the new reference as no detail had yet been provided to them.

The new case pertains to the alleged import of a BMW vehicle. The prosecution claims that the actual price of the bullet-proof armoured vehicle with an unladen weight of 2,560kg was pounds 55,000. But to evade the duty, the accused showed the weight of the car as 1,610kg, purchased at the price of pounds 12,000. Thus Rs10 million were evaded by deceiving the state by registering the vehicle as an ordinary car.

The import of the car was allegedly arranged by Fareed Veerani, the owner of Agha Super Store, Karachi, from London in the name of Sajjad Qayyum, a Pakistani student, under the personal baggage scheme. Even the freight charges of the PIA were not fully paid, the prosecution alleged.

An amount of Rs5.5 million as duty was paid by Dost Mohammad, an employee of the Bilawal House, while the customs duty was cleared by the Jumbo Customs Clearance Agency.

The vehicle was impounded by National Accountability Bureau in 1999.

Asif Zardari is currently lodged at a sub-jail at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). The fresh BMW case has swelled the list of both criminal and civil cases against Asif Zardari to 14. The courts earlier had granted bails in 12 cases, while he has not been arrested in the polo case.