Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blažek (ODS, ECR) has resigned amid an investigation into his ministry’s receipt of bitcoins from convicted drug dealer Tomáš Jiřikovský, Czech media reported on Monday.
State prosecutors launched an investigation after the donated cryptocurrency, worth 1 billion koruna ($45 million), was sold.
“I was not aware of illegal actions, but I do not want to damage the government’s reputation,” Blažek wrote on social media.
Blažek insisted that accepting the gift was legal, as there was “no evidence of criminal origin.” Prime Minister Petr Fiala called the resignation a “responsible step,” although he acknowledged that he believed in the minister’s integrity.
According to the Deník N portal, in early 2025, the court agreed to return to Jiřikovský the electronics seized in his case, which contained a Bitcoin wallet. At the same time, the man’s lawyer approached Blažek, with who he had been acquainted for a long time, with an offer from his client to donate 30% of these Bitcoins to the Ministry of Justice.
The minister agreed, and as a result, his department received 468 bitcoins out of 1,561. The total value of the digital coins in the wallet was estimated at 3 billion koruna, while at the time of Jiřikovský’s arrest, the amount was only 16 million koruna.
