According to Bloomberg, the ministry had accepted a donation of 480 Bitcoins worth around 1 billion Czech Koruna (over $45 million) from Tomáš Jiřikovský, who previously served four years in prison.
Jiřikovský was convicted for operating the darknet platform Sheep Marketplace, where users bought drugs and other illegal items. However, the platform stopped operating in 2013, which many considered an exit scam, as the operators disappeared with users’ money.
It was not until 2016 that Jiřikovský would be arrested for the incident with a wallet containing over 1,500 Bitcoins found on his computer, according to authorities. He was eventually sentenced to prison for drug trafficking and embezzlement.
Blažek’s decision to accept the donation despite the donor’s checkered history has landed him in hot water. Opposition parties have been especially critical of his actions, with speculations of money laundering since he did not know the origin of the funds.
The bad press surrounding the incident appeared to be the major factor in the minister’s resignation. Although he has continued denying any wrongdoing, he said he resigned to prevent a negative impact on Prime Minister Peter Fiala’s coalition government.
However, many suggest there might be more to the donation than Blažek claims. According to reports, Jiřikovský has been trying to recover the Bitcoins the government seized from him upon his arrest.
Although he claimed that he had obtained them legally, which entitles him to keep them, investigations at the time suggested they might be connected to another darknet marketplace, Nucleus. Nucleus shut down the day Jiřikovský was arrested.
