KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A Malaysian court on Wednesday dropped charges against jailed former prime minister Najib Razak for criminal breach of trust related to the multibillion-dollar looting of a state fund.

Najib had already been convicted in his first graft case related to 1State Development Fund Malaysia Berhador 1MBD, scandal and began serving the sentence in 2022 after losing the final appeal in his first graft case.

But he faces other wrongdoing trials, including Wednesday’s case in which he was jointly charged with former treasury chief Irwan Serigar Abdullah on six counts of misappropriating 6.6 billion ringgit ($1.5 billion ) from public funds. The money was said to be 1MDB’s settlement payment to the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Investment Company.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court freed the two after ruling that procedural delays and prosecutors’ failure to hand over key documents were unfair to the defence, Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Farhan said. A discharge does not mean an acquittal because prosecutors reserve the right to revive the charges against them, he said.

“Today’s decision was based on the failure to disclose critical documents, six years after the original allegations were made, which are relevant to the preparation of our client’s defense. The court therefore correctly exercised its jurisdiction to acquit our client of the charges,” Farhan said.

Najib set up 1MDB shortly after taking power in 2009. Investigators say more than $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by his associates to finance Hollywood movies and extravagant purchases. The scandal toppled Najib’s government, and he was defeated in the 2018 election.

Najib, 71, issued a rare apology in October for the “under his watch” scandal, but reiterated his innocence.

Last month, it was ordered to enter his defense in another key case that directly links him to the 1MDB scandal. The court ruled that the prosecution built its case on four counts of abuse of power to obtain more than $700 million from the fund that went into Najib’s bank accounts between 2011 and 2014 and 21 counts of money laundering that involves the same amount.

In addition, Najib still has a money laundering case pending. His wife Rosmah Mansor and other senior government officials also face corruption charges.