Latest news with #CzechGovernment
CNA
3 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Czech government bans DeepSeek usage in public administration
PRAGUE :The Czech government banned usage of any services of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek in the Czech public administration due to security concerns, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Czech government survives no-confidence motion over bitcoin scandal
PRAGUE (Reuters) -The Czech centre-right government on Wednesday survived a vote of no confidence, called after the acceptance of a payment to the state by an ex-convict worth $45 million in bitcoin sparked controversy within the ruling coalition months before an election. The biggest opposition party, ANO, which leads opinion polls ahead of an October 3-4 election, had filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Petr Fiala's government, accusing it of helping the former cybercriminal legitimise his bitcoin holdings of potentially illegal origin. The motion failed after two days of debate in the lower house, where Fiala's ruling coalition led by his Civic Democrats Party, holds a majority. Political veteran Pavel Blazek, from Fiala's party, resigned as justice minister on May 31 for accepting the payment on behalf of the state, though he denied doing anything illegal. Fiala has called accepting the gift a political and ethical mistake. The man who made the donation of 468 bitcoins to the state was in jail from 2017 until 2021 after being convicted of involvement in the drug trade, fraud and illegal possession of weapons for running an illegal drug market on the internet called Sheep Marketplace. Blazek has faced criticism for possibly legitimising the ex-convict's assets, instead of turning to prosecutors or police to help secure them. The gift, Blazek has said, was agreed to be 30% of bitcoins found in a wallet on computers returned to the ex-convict by courts earlier this year. It was not clear what was the ex-convict's motivation to make the donation.
Reuters
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Czech government survives no-confidence motion over bitcoin scandal
PRAGUE, June 18 (Reuters) - The Czech centre-right government on Wednesday survived a vote of no confidence, called after the acceptance of a payment to the state by an ex-convict worth $45 million in bitcoin sparked controversy within the ruling coalition months before an election. The biggest opposition party, ANO, which leads opinion polls ahead of an October 3-4 election, had filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Petr Fiala's government, accusing it of helping the former cybercriminal legitimise his bitcoin holdings of potentially illegal origin. The motion failed after two days of debate in the lower house, where Fiala's ruling coalition led by his Civic Democrats Party, holds a majority. Political veteran Pavel Blazek, from Fiala's party, resigned as justice minister on May 31 for accepting the payment on behalf of the state, though he denied doing anything illegal. Fiala has called accepting the gift a political and ethical mistake. The man who made the donation of 468 bitcoins to the state was in jail from 2017 until 2021 after being convicted of involvement in the drug trade, fraud and illegal possession of weapons for running an illegal drug market on the internet called Sheep Marketplace. Blazek has faced criticism for possibly legitimising the ex-convict's assets, instead of turning to prosecutors or police to help secure them. The gift, Blazek has said, was agreed to be 30% of bitcoins found in a wallet on computers returned to the ex-convict by courts earlier this year. It was not clear what was the ex-convict's motivation to make the donation.
Irish Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Czech opposition party to call no-confidence vote in government over bitcoin gift scandal
The opposition ANO party plans to call a no-confidence vote in the Czech government after the justice minister resigned over accepting a $45 million bitcoin gift for the ministry from an ex-convict, deputy ANO chief Karel Havlicek said on Tuesday. The minister, Pavel Blazek, a lawyer and veteran senior official in prime minister Petr Fiala 's centre-right Civic Democrats party, denied doing anything illegal in his decision to accept the gift – which was part of bitcoin holdings returned to the former convict after he served a jail sentence. The scandal is a further setback for the government – which has been trailing the opposition, led by the populist ANO party, in opinion polls before an election set for October 3rd-4th. 'Unless something absolutely exceptional happens, we will trigger a no-confidence vote,' Mr Havlicek, whose party has enough members of parliament to force a no-confidence motion, said on Czech Television. 'There is no other option.' READ MORE The donation was 30 per cent of bitcoin holdings of the ex-convict that had been confiscated with hardware and frozen for about decade, while bitcoin value soared. [ Crypto investor in New York charged in kidnapping and torture plot Opens in new window ] A court ordered the release of the hardware after the person served his sentence, Czech media reported. It was not clear why the person agreed to the gift and he declined to comment to Czech media. Fiala said on Tuesday he understood public suspicions that the state may have been abused for legalising criminal income, and that the issue had to be fully investigated. The person providing the gift was convicted for running an illegal marketplace on the internet and was in jail from 2017-2021 for fraud, drug trade and illegal armament, Czech media reported. – Reuters
