Czech Police Arrest Donor in Billion-Dollar Bitcoin Scandal

Czech police have detained convicted drug trafficker Tomáš Jiřikovský, the person behind a multi-billion-dollar bitcoin donation to the nation’s Ministry of Justice, escalating a scandal that has already claimed a cupboard minister.

The Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office stated Thursday that the National Centre for the Fight Against Organised Crime (NCOZ) intervened in the case, securing people and proof, in keeping with a report by Czech information web site Echo24. The probe now targets suspected cash laundering and unlawful drug dealing with, separated from a broader investigation that additionally examined abuse of energy.

Jiřikovský was convicted and served a jail sentence for operating a darknet drug market referred to as Sheep Marketplace. He was arrested in 2016 and subsequently convicted of embezzlement and drug trafficking, serving 4 years of a nine-year jail sentence.

The arrest was the results of a raid by police on a home in Břeclav the place Jiřikovský was staying.

The bitcoin donation case rocked Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s administration solely months earlier than the nation’s election laster this 12 months.

The authorities survived a vote of no confidence filed by opposition occasion ANO, which leads the polls at current forward of October’s vote.

Former Justice Minister Pavel Blažek resigned in June over the affair, having accepted the donation of 468 BTC, which was offered for roughly 1 billion Czech koruna, value round $45 million.

His successor, Eva Decroix, commissioning an impartial audit from Grant Thornton. Released in late July, the audit concluded the ministry shouldn’t have accepted the bitcoin, warning it seemingly originated from felony proceeds and will represent a felony offense.