BRATISLAVA (Slovakia) -- An action brought by Andrej Babis, former Czech Prime Minister, against claims that he conspired with Czechoslovakia’s communist-era secret cops has been dismissed by a Slovak court.

Babis, a Slovakian-born man, was suing Slovakia's Institute of the Nation's Memory. It holds some of his secret police files from 1993's Czechoslovakia division into the Czech Republic.

Although some files were destroyed, the institute stated that the ones that remain contain evidence that Babis was an Agent under the codename "Bures" starting in 1982. Babis, who was absent from the courtroom on Tuesday, denied this.

The verdict is final.

In 2018, the Bratislava Regional Court rejected the lawsuit. However, the Constitutional Court of the country ordered a retrial. The court ruled that the institute cannot be sued and that the respondent should not be the Slovak Interior Ministry.

Babis reiterated Tuesday that he had never cooperated with the secret police known as StB and promised to continue his defense in court.

After his populist ANO centrist party lost the parliamentary elections last year, Babis, a billionaire is currently in opposition. He is expected to declare whether he will run for president of the Czech Republic in the election for the mostly ceremonial position early next year.