ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: An accountability court on Wednesday extended the remand of the former senator, Asif Ali Zardari, to 10 days in the BMW case when the prosecution prayed the court to provide time to complete investigations.

Hazrat Ali, the investigating officer, pleaded before Judge Sakhi Hussain Bokhari to grant some time, as the names of two more owners of the same vehicle had been surfaced but they had not been traced so far since they were reportedly in England.

He told the court that in addition to Mr Zardari and Sajid Qayyum, the BMW car was also purchased by Mr Badruddin and Mr Saeed.

However, the defence comprising Farooq Naek and Abu Baker Zardari objected to the request that the investigation, being carried out by the IO had got nothing to do with Mr Zardari, as the answers they want to have, have already been given.

Besides, the prosecution has already acquired necessary documents from the customs and excise department for their investigations.

However, the court adjourned the hearing till January 25 after granting a remand of 10 more days.

Under the BMW case, Mr Zardari was accused of impersonating himself by importing the 1993 model armoured luxury vehicle in the name of a student with an intention to evade duties.

With the import of the vehicle, the national exchequer was deprived of Rs10 million import duty.

The prosecution claimed that the actual price of the bullet proof armoured vehicle, with an unladen weight of 2,560kg, was 55,000 pounds. But, to evade the duty, the accused showed the weight of the car as 1,610kg, purchased at a price of 12,000 pounds.

The import of the car was allegedly arranged by Fareed Veerani, the owner of Agha super store of 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.

Rs5.5 million duty was paid by Doost Mohammad, an employee of the Bilawal House, while the customs duty was cleared by the Jumbo customs clearance agency.

The prosecution alleged that the accused did not claim the vehicle when it came for maintenance work at the workshop of Aitezaz Ahmed, the brother-in-law of former chairman of capital development authority Shafi Sehwani.