Czech government set to face no-confidence vote in bitcoin scandal

By Jan Lopatka

PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala battled calls on Tuesday to quit after the opposition said it would call a vote of no-confidence in the government following the justice minister's resignation over a bitcoin donation to the state from an ex-convict.

Justice Minister Pavel Blazek denied doing anything illegal but stepped down on Friday after being widely criticised for accepting the donation of bitcoin worth $45 million from a man convicted of running an online drug market.

The departure of Blazek, a veteran senior official in Fiala's centre-right Civic Democrats party, was a new setback for the government, which has been trailing the opposition in opinion polls before an October 3-4 election.

Karel Havlicek, deputy chief of the populist ANO party, said the party planned to call a parliamentary no-confidence vote in the government.

"This government should have immediately resigned," Havlicek said on Czech Television.

"Unless something absolutely exceptional happens, we will trigger a no-confidence vote," said Havlicek, whose party has enough members of parliament to force a no-confidence motion. "There is no other option."

Fiala later told a televised press conference that the issue must be fully investigated, including by Czech secret services.

"I understand concern in the public that the state may have been abused, for example, for legalising income from criminal activities," Fiala said.

He said Blazek had been motivated by getting money for the state and "did not evaluate well the political-ethical aspect of the issue."

But Fiala, who nominated party colleague Eva Decroix to replace Blazek as justice minister, added: "There is no reason for the government to fall."

The government has 104 seats in the 200-seat lower house, enough to survive a no-confidence motion if all the coalition parties support it. Fiala's coalition partners have demanded explanations but have not indicated that they will withdraw from the coalition.

The person who made the donation of 468 bitcoins was in jail from 2017 until 2021 after being convicted of involvement in the drug trade, fraud and illegal possession of weapons.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka, Editing by Timothy Heritage)