BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — A court in the Slovak capital has ruled that Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis did not collaborate with the communist-era secret police.

Babis, a Slovak-born billionaire businessman, was trying to clear his name and sued Slovakia’s Institute of the Nation’s Memory, which holds parts of his secret-police file. The institute said the file contains evidence that Babis was an agent.

Court spokesman Pavol Adamciak says the Bratislava I county court ruled Thursday there was no proof for the allegation.

The institute says it will appeal.

Babis is a rising star of the Czech politics. He leads a centrist ANO (YES) movement, a part of the coalition government and currently the most popular political grouping in the Czech Republic.

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