Pavel Blažek resigned.
This happened after public outcry regarding the fact that the Ministry of Justice sold about 500 BTC received from a criminal.
They were donated by the founder of Sheep Marketplace, Tomáš Jiřikovský.
Police are trying to freeze the assets.
Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blažek announced his resignation on May 30, 2025.
The reason was a media scandal that broke out after the ministry sold Bitcoins received from a convicted criminal, worth 1 billion CZK (about $45 million).
What’s the matter?
At the end of May, the Czech Ministry of Justice published a report about the sale of crypto assets through an auction.
About 500 BTC were sold for a total of 956.8 million CZK.
It was assumed that the funds would be allocated to various target programs, including fighting drug use in prisons.
However, the local news outlet Deník N published an article claiming that the crypto assets were received by the ministry as a gift from Tomáš Jiřikovský.
He is the founder of a darknet marketplace called Sheep Marketplace.
He was convicted in 2017 and released five years later.
During the investigation and arrest, police seized Jiřikovský’s wallet containing 1,561 BTC.
In early 2025, he succeeded in having it returned.
In March, Jiřikovský’s lawyer approached Blažek with a proposal to donate 468 BTC to the ministry — the same coins that were sold at auction at the end of May.
The minister’s decision to resign
As Le Monde noted, the politician knew the origin of the donation but didn’t consider it important.
According to him, he believed that Jiřikovský had repented and was trying to make amends.
Blažek emphasized that neither the lawyer nor the former criminal asked for anything in return.
Nonetheless, he decided to resign in order not to discredit the government.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated that, in his opinion, Blažek acted in good faith.
However, he respects the decision to resign and already has candidates for the position of Justice Minister.
The situation is made worse by the fact that the Bitcoins donated by Jiřikovský may be linked to another darknet platform — Nucleus.
According to the press, law enforcement is trying to freeze the funds during the investigation of potential money laundering involving illegally obtained assets.
Jiřikovský previously claimed that he obtained the Bitcoins legally.
Earlier, we reported that Czech authorities exempted crypto investors from capital gains tax if they held assets for more than three years.
