Drug dealer bitcoin scandal risks upending Czech election

Blažek, who is also known as Don Pablo in Czech political circles due to his previous scandals that included attending the party of a pro-Russian lobbyist or alleged corruption related to municipal apartments, said he acted legally, but quit because he didn’t want the current coalition to suffer.

“It was so ultra-legal that it couldn’t be more legal,” said Blažek, adding that Jiřikovský might have donated bitcoin to the ministry as a “form of penance.”

But the scandal is a boon for opposition election front-runner Babiš, the leader of the right-wing populist ANO party who previously governed Czechia between 2017 and 2021 — and it arrives at a critical moment. Though it is still leading, ANO has been slowly declining in polls over the last few weeks, while the Together (SPOLU) coalition has been rising.

Political analyst Ladislav Mrklas from CEVRO Institute in Prague, said the opposition will try to use the scandal for political gain for weeks.

“The whole affair broke out at a very inopportune time, just when it seemed that the government parties were finally gaining some ground and their support was starting to rise from the bottom,” he said, adding that it is a “major inconvenience” for the government.

Petr Kaniok, from the international relations department of Masaryk University in Brno, said that the coalition managed to dampen the impact of the scandal by having the minister resign.

“To put it bluntly: no body, no crime. If Blažek is no longer in government, the opposition will struggle to attack it,” said Kaniok, adding that he does not expect the case to have a major effect — also because Blažek has long been a polarizing figure.

Babiš was quick to accuse Blažek and ODS of money laundering and called for the government to resign.

“Are you taking people for a joke, Mr. Prime Minister? You were literally laundering drug money! … This is grounds for the whole government to fall! … You’re the most corrupt government this country has ever had,” Babiš wrote in a post on X.

The police and the National Headquarters for Combating Organized Crime are now investigating whether the donation came from laundered money.