MANILA, Philippines ? Now the Philippine National Police is saying that the P6.9 million brought to Russia early this month by the then PNP comptroller was intended for the purchase of ?intelligence equipment.?

PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa made the claim in a letter to the Senate foreign relations committee, which is looking into the scandal.

According to the committee chair, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Verzosa has requested an executive (or closed-door) session from the committee.

?This evening my office received a letter from Verzosa asking my committee to go into an executive session where he will explain that the money was intended to be used for the purchase of military equipment,? Santiago told the Inquirer (parent of INQUIRER.net) last night.

She said she and Sen. Mar Roxas, the committee vice chair, had agreed to deny Verzosa?s request.

?That is flimsy, sham and frivolous,? she said of the PNP chief?s claim.

?Profuse apologies?

In a separate letter addressed to Roxas, Verzosa said an executive session was necessary because of security implications.

?The funds are intended for possible purchase of intelligence equipment and similar products,? he said in the letter.

Verzosa said that according to the preliminary investigation conducted by the PNP, the P6.9-million cash advance made by then Director Eliseo de la Paz was ?derived from the PNP?s Intelligence Fund which he processed before my assumption of office as PNP chief.?

He said De la Paz had obtained the cash advance from Supt. Samuel Rodriguez, disbursing officer for the PNP Directorate for Intelligence, through Senior Supt. Tomas Rentoy, budget chief.

Verzosa apologized to Roxas for not stating the purported reason for the money during the Senate inquiry on Thursday.

?At the outset, please accept my profuse apologies for not forthrightly answering the good senator?s questions during the said hearing. I had intended to request the honorable chair of the committee for an executive session where I could have more freely answered the questions of the committee. Unfortunately, the swiftness and disposition of the proceedings ... prevented me from doing so,? the PNP chief said.

Possible ploy

But Santiago said the purported plan to buy military equipment in that manner was unauthorized under government procurement rules.

She said the PNP request could be a ploy to prevent the Senate from issuing a warrant for the arrest of De la Paz.

?They want the arrest warrant to be quashed voluntarily by the Senate,? she said.

Santiago said the PNP also wanted another Senate committee to handle the inquiry.

She quoted PNP officials as saying they would only appear before the finance or public order committee chaired respectively by Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honasan.

She said Enrile had been defending the PNP and that Honasan was a close Enrile associate.

Shopping money

Santiago stuck to her view that the P6.9 million seized by Russian authorities from De la Paz was ?allowance? that police officials had wheedled from Chinese businessmen, or even drug lords.

?That is just pabaon galing sa Intsik or even shopping money from drug lords. For a big-time drug lord, P7 million is so minuscule,? she said.