The suspicion that the Czech state may have been abused to launder criminal proceeds in the case of the controversial billion-crown bitcoin donation to the Justice Ministry must be investigated, and fully refuted or clarified, in order for the situation not to be repeated, Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters today.
Fiala (ODS) added that he can understand the concerns provoked by the affair.
Fiala said he will convene a meeting of the National Security Council (BRS) in the coming days to discuss the case, and that any investigation by the relevant authorities will have full support from him and the entire government.
Last week, Justice Minister Pavel Blazek (ODS) announced his resignation over the case.
Fiala said at a press conference today that Blazek’s successor would be MP and ODS deputy leader Eva Decroix, who will be appointed next week.
The prime minister stressed that he had no doubts about the role of the other ministers in the case. He strongly denied that the government or ODS was behind the donation in an attempt to assist criminal operations in exchange for some financial compensation. In his opinion, he added, this speculation had been spread deliberately and without evidence by the opposition and parts of the media.
At the press conference, Fiala mentioned that the field of cryptocurrencies was unknown to many people and that leading experts had diverging opinions on whether the state had been abused.
“So far, the only tangible result is that the state has received CZK 1 billion, and it is possible that thanks to further investigations, it will receive even more funds,” Fiala said.
The prime minister admitted that the state could have been abused in the case to launder the proceeds of criminal activities. “These fears need to be refuted or confirmed and fully clarified so that such a matter cannot happen again, if it happened,” he said. The Czech Republic cannot afford to have doubts because they can potentially damage trust in the state, Fiala stressed.
BRS will meet in the coming days to discuss the situation, Fiala said, in response to the publicly formulated suspicions that the state may have been abused through the Justice Ministry. He said he would be interested in what the secret services know about the matter. “Above all, I am interested in how prepared the state is for the new threats posed by crime in cyberspace,” the PM added.
The prime minister believes Blazek acted in good faith in an effort to raise money for the state. “The fact that he misjudged the matter and admits today that he would have acted differently is the reason why he left his post as a member of the government, after consulting me on it,” Fiala said.
The exercise of political responsibility in this case was exemplary, he said, adding that it was a strong contrast to the opposition ANO leader and former PM, Andrej Babis. Fiala hinted at Babis being tried in court in the case of a suspected EU subsidy abuse.
Blazek is quitting over a problematic bitcoin donation from Tomas Jirikovsky, who was convicted in 2017 for embezzlement, drug trafficking and illegal weapon trading. Blazek said there was nothing illegal about the CZK 1 billion cryptocurrency transaction, and that it was not proven that the gift came from criminal activity.
