The Czech police have withheld convicted drug trafficking Tomáš Jiřeikovský, the man behind a Bitcoin donation of several billion dollars to the country’s Ministry of Justice, thereby claiming a scandal a cabinet minister.
The top public prosecutor’s office said Thursday that the National Center for The Fight Against Organized Crime (NCOZ) Intervened in the case and secured individuals and evidence, according to a report from Czech news site ECHO24. The probe is now aimed at suspicion of money laundering and illegal drug management, separated from a broader study that also investigated abuse of power.
Jiõikovský was sentenced and handed down a prison sentence for running a dark network marketplace called Sheep Marketplace. He was arrested in 2016 and subsequently convicted of sub-and drug trafficking and served four years with a nine-year prison sentence.
The arrest was the result of an attack by police at a house in B compllav, where Jiõikovský stayed.
The Bitcoin donation case shook Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s administration just months before the country’s elections load this year.
The government survived a vote on no confidence filed by the opposition party Ano, which is currently leading the voting before October’s vote.
Former Minister of Justice Pavel Blažek retired in June over the affair after accepting the donation of 468 BTC, which was sold for approx. 1 billion Czech Koruna, worth about $ 45 million.
His successor, Eva Decroix, ordering an independent revision from Grant Thornton. The audit was released at the end of July and concluded that the ministry should not have accepted Bitcoin, who warned that it is likely to originate in penalties and could constitute a criminal act.
