MOSCOW, March 26 - RAPSI. The Interior Ministry's Investigative Department has terminated the criminal case against former Moscow Metro head Dmitry Gaev, who was charged with abuse of office, the department told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) on Monday.

A source in the department said that "the criminal case was initiated on March 23, 2011 upon the Prosecutor General's Office request." The prosecutor's office claimed Metro officials abused their positions for personal gain.

"The investigation found that in 1998 Gaev obtained a patent for an automatic fare collection system in co-authorship with other individuals. The system was commissioned in the Moscow underground the year before. The patent owners consequently entered into a license agreement with the metro and were granted a 112 million ruble ($3.8 million) reward for the system," the department said.

Gaev ran the Moscow Metro since 1995. He resigned from office in February 2011 following the Prosecutor General's Office statement that he illegally profited from his position.