By Romie A. Evangelista

Russian authorities have cleared former police comptroller Eliseo de la Paz and his wife of violation of currency laws, and are processing the return of the 128,000 euros seized from the couple, his lawyer said yesterday.

De la Paz?s lawyer Noel Malaya said Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno received a letter from Foreign Affairs Executive Director Crescete Relacion (assigned at the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers) last Dec. 18, about the development of the case in Russia.

In his letter, Relacion said the Foreign Affairs informed Puno of the results of the investigation made by the Russian Customs Office through a certain ?Investigator Rodenko.?

Relacion said the ?criminal prosecution [against the De la Pazes] had been dismissed and the cash to be returned to the couple includes: 48,500 euros; 76,500 euros; 9,400 euros or a total of 128,000 euros.?

Malaya said the money seized from De la Paz and his wife is now in the possession of his Russian lawyer, who he called ?Binetskiy.? The money will be returned to the De la Pazes after paper work is done and legal requirements have been met, Malaya said.

The Russian lawyer, ?Binetskiy? arrived in Manila last Dec. 22 to ?facilitate and expedite? the local legal and documentary requirements. He will return to Russia today to facilitate the money transfer.

?The money will be transferred to a PNP bank account and they are just finalizing some legalities and paper works. We expect the money to arrive in three weeks? time,? Malaya said.