Moscow subway head Dmitry Gayev resigned on Monday amid allegations of the unlawful diversion of funds, spokesperson for the Moscow mayor Gulnara Penkova said.
Ivan Besedin, former head of Kaliningrad Railway, a branch of the Russian Railways, was appointed the new chief of the Moscow subway, Penkova added.
In December, Russia's Prosecutor General's Office advised Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin to fire Gayev. Citing an investigation, prosecutors said that over the last ten years, Gayev had illegally made 112 million rubles ($3.64 million) by concluding contracts which negatively affected the rates for transportation of passengers.
After coming to office in October 2010, Sobyanin pledged to resolve the capital's transport situation, including its massive traffic jams. Plans to build 75 kilometers of subway lines in five years have been announced.
Sobyanin promised to allocate 50 billion rubles annually for subway construction until 2015.
MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti)
