The Czech Chamber of Deputies session on the controversial bitcoin donation to the state was adjourned without any concrete conclusions at 9 pm yesterday, due to the expiry of the time allotted for deliberations.
No date has yet been set for the resumption of the session, for MPs to vote on the draft resolutions presented by the Mayors and Independents (STAN) and the opposition Pirates and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD).
The opposition repeatedly failed in attempts to force the session to continue on Friday. At the time of the adjournment, there were still 17 MPs registered to speak in the standard debate, out of the 33 originally reported.
STAN is demanding that the incoming Justice Minister Eva Decroix (ODS) draw up a detailed description of the bitcoin transaction to the state within two weeks, identifying all the individuals responsible for each step. STAN said the circumstances of the CZK 1 billion donation, which the Justice Ministry accepted from a man convicted of embezzlement and drug trafficking, had shaken public confidence in the state and its institutions.
Earlier, in a lengthy resolution, the Pirates proposed for the government to hold accountable those involved in the bitcoin case and to publish all documents, including communications.
SPD leader Tomio Okamura said he wanted the lower house to recommend the resignation of Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS), which would mean the collapse of the coalition cabinet. Otherwise, ANO intends to trigger a vote of no-confidence in the government, for which it already has enough signatures. For the cabinet to fall, at least 101 of the 200 MPs must vote in favour. SPD and the Pirates have signalled their intention to support the motion, but ANO parliamentary leader Alena Schillerova said it was not yet clear when the request will be submitted.
The first part of the roughly 11-hour debate was composed of speeches by party leaders with priority speaking rights, including eight opposition representatives. Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that outgoing Justice Minister Pavel Blazek (ODS) had clearly made a mistake by accepting a donation of bitcoins, on his own responsibility and without verification, which was at least ethically problematic.
He stressed that no information had been provided by the security services to warn against accepting the questionable donation of bitcoins, or their donor. Therefore, the Prime Minister said the matter needed to be thoroughly clarified and the facts distinguished from conjecture and speculation, which he said the opposition wanted to use to exploit the case for political motivations. He did not comment on the calls for his resignation.
Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura, on the other hand, directly dismissed claims that he should follow Blazek and resign from his post over the case. He stressed that he had not violated the law, and insisted that, according to the law on state property, the Ministry of Justice was responsible for handling the donated bitcoins, and was the exclusive party to the donation agreement.
Blazek acknowledged that accepting the donation was a mistake with respect to reputational and ethical issues, and apologized. He rejected the opposition’s accusations of corruption, and said the attempt to implicate other members of the government in the case was beyond reality. Most of the afternoon session was filled with verbal skirmishes in the form of two-minute remarks.
