The administration of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala survived a no-confidence vote initiated over a massive scandal involving a $45 million Bitcoin donation accepted by his ex-minister of justice, who quit to limit the political damage.
The opposition, which sought to topple the government a few months ahead of the parliamentary elections this fall, continues to push for more resignations.
Fiala’s government gathers enough votes to stay in power
The ruling center-right coalition in the Czech Republic rejected an attempt in parliament to bring down the cabinet of Petr Fiala, who has been trying hard to counter the political fallout from a controversial cryptocurrency donation.
The scandal already led to the resignation of Justice Minister Pavel Blažek earlier in June, who took responsibility for his department’s decision to accept 1 billion koruna ($45 million) in Bitcoin from a convicted drug dealer.
The no-confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Czech parliament, was initiated by the main opposition ANO party. The right-wingers were supported by the far-right SPD and the Pirates but fell short of the 101 votes needed.
All parties forming the Fiala government – his conservative ODS, the centrist STAN, the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), and the liberal-conservative TOP 09, largely backed the cabinet, with only a few absences and abstentions, Euractiv noted in a report.
Of the 192 members of parliament present during the session on Wednesday, 94 opposition deputies backed the motion while 98 representatives of the ruling majority opposed it, the national radio broadcaster Český Rozhlas broke down the numbers.
“We have just had another vote of no-confidence in the government. It went as expected and the government survived the vote,” Petr Fiala commented on X.
Prime Minister’s party damaged by crypto donation scandal
Pavel Blažek stepped down in May after reports emerged that the Ministry of Justice took a donation of 480 BTC from Tomáš Jiřikovský, the operator of a darknet market who had been convicted of drug trafficking, embezzlement, and illegal arms possession. Jiřikovský had served four years in prison.
Both Blažek and the Czech prime minister admitted that accepting the Bitcoin without proper verification of its source was a “mistake” and “ethically problematic.” Blazek apologized for his role in the case but rejected accusations of corruption.
The scandal has impacted Fiala’s Civic Democrats while the other parties in the coalition have been distancing themselves from the affair, which, according to the opposition, undermined public trust in state institutions and stained the country’s reputation abroad.
Coalition partner Mayors and Independents (STAN), who criticized the way Petr Fiala handled the matter, eventually backed his administration, after warning about political instability if the government falls before the upcoming elections in October.
Earlier, they had demanded that the new Justice Minister Eva Decroix, from Fiala’s ODS party, provide a detailed description of how the cryptocurrency was transferred to the ministry and identify all responsible persons. She promised an independent audit as part of a full investigation.
Opposition ANO party insists on finance minister’s resignation
The right-wing populist ANO party, led by former Czech Prime Minister and businessman Andrej Babiš, has made it clear it will continue to push for the resignation of Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura, despite the government surviving the vote of no-confidence.
ANO claims that Stanjura is a key figure in the Bitcoin scandal, as he should have notified the Czech Republic’s Financial Analytical Office and called for a meeting of the National Security Council as soon as he learned about the suspicious crypto donation.
Zbyněk Stanjura has already refused to quit his seat. About two weeks ago, he insisted he had not violated the law, maintaining that the Ministry of Justice was solely responsible for the embarrassing affair.
While stressing his department was not involved in the decision to accept the cryptocurrency, the finance minister admitted he had been aware of Blažek’s intentions to accept the digital coin donation and even tried to talk him out of it.
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