FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) – A special prosecutor looking into allegations that Navajo Nation officials used tribal money as personal slush funds won't continue with the case.

Alan Balaran told The Associated Press on Friday that a judicial panel decided against renewing his contract a day earlier. He was hired last year to look into the tribe's contractual relationship with two companies that operated on the reservation, discretionary spending and a tribal ranch program.

“They were correct in their decision from the perspective that it was such a contentious relationship between myself and the heads of the government, that it would have been very difficult to get things accomplished,” he said. “But I didn't need any more because I had all the evidence.”

Tribal Deputy Attorney General Dana Bobroff said she will submit a transition plan to the judicial panel, which has not yet issued a formal opinion on the matter.

“The special prosecutions will continue to be pursued and litigated,” she wrote in an email to the AP.

Balaran recently filed a civil lawsuit against 85 people, including former and current lawmakers, the former tribal president, the controller and the attorney general, contending they personally benefited from $36 million in discretionary funding or failed to regulate the money that is meant for elderly tribal members, student scholarships or others facing significant hardship.

The complaint replaced some criminal charges that were unresolved. Tribal lawmakers immediately criticized the lawsuit, saying it was a shoddy piece of work and that Balaran was simply throwing darts to see what sticks. He was labeled an outsider and encountered stiff opposition to obtaining documents from tribal government offices.

“I think it's fair to say they would have taken a high school student in braces over me because that's maniputable,” he said.

Balaran formerly investigated the destruction of documents in a multibillion lawsuit on behalf of American Indians who claimed the government mismanaged trust funds. He resigned from the case, saying the government wanted him off after he found evidence that private landowners near the Navajo Nation got as much as 20 times more money than Indian landowners from gas pipeline companies for rights to cross their land.

Department of Interior officials had argued that Balaran improperly hired as an expert witness a former Interior contractor who had accused the department of fraud.

Balaran said Friday that case pales in comparison to what he's uncovered in the Navajo cases. In court documents, he accused the tribal government of theft or misuse of up to $1.5 billion in federal grant money, and a practice of covering up accounting irregularities. Those allegations were not substantiated but Balaran said he now won't have the chance to prove them.

With the exception of Navajo President Ben Shelly and Vice President Rex Lee Jim, no other Navajo official agreed to pay back the money they were accused of taking from the tribal government. Balaran said he expected others to follow suit and settle, but that didn't happen.

He said he expected the civil charges to be wrapped up within six months to a year.

“I didn't want anybody to go to jail particularly,” Balaran said. “I just wanted the money back – $36 million to these people is a tremendous amount of money. I didn't think it should go to their families. It's against the law.”