MOSCOW, January 20 (RAPSI) – A Moscow District Investigative Directorate has closed a criminal case against Rodex Group owner Yevgeny Rodionov, the press-service of Russia’s Business Rights Commissioner Boris Titov informs on Monday.

The businessman stood charged with especially serious embezzlement when dealing with a suburban settlements development project near Moscow.

Rodionov has spent over 18 months under house arrest while protesting his innocence and trying to prove the absurdity of the charges. He insisted that the allegedly embezzled money was actually used to build houses, which were transferred to respective buyers in the framework of his company bankruptcy. The case has been investigated for 7 years; over this time it has been heard and returned to investigators several times, the statement reads.

After Titov had intervened in the case asking investigators to examine the lawfulness of the persecution, the case was dropped owing to the absence of elements of a crime in the businessman’s actions; at the same time, Rodionov’s right to seek rehabilitation was recognized.