Czech justice minister resigns after accepting €40 million in bitcoin from convicted criminal
What was initially presented as a great deal quickly unraveled. On Friday, May 30, Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek, the conservative politician, resigned after two days of controversy over the sale by his ministry of bitcoins "donated for free" by a criminal convicted of drug trafficking.
The scandal began with a tweet from the ministry, which boasted, on Wednesday, on X, that it had auctioned off nearly 500 bitcoins two days earlier, raising close to 1 billion Czech koruna (about €40 million). According to Blazek, the money was meant to help fund the digitization of the justice system, fight drug use in prisons, and provide housing for prison staff.
But a major problem was quickly pointed out by Denik N. On Thursday, the news site revealed that the bitcoins were donated by Tomas Jirikovsky, a notorious criminal convicted in 2017 of "embezzlement, drug trafficking, and illegal possession of weapons." He had been found guilty of running Sheep Marketplace, a marketplace on the dark web known for dealing illegal products.
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LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
Czech justice minister resigns after accepting €40 million in bitcoin from convicted criminal
What was initially presented as a great deal quickly unraveled. On Friday, May 30, Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek, the conservative politician, resigned after two days of controversy over the sale by his ministry of bitcoins "donated for free" by a criminal convicted of drug trafficking. The scandal began with a tweet from the ministry, which boasted, on Wednesday, on X, that it had auctioned off nearly 500 bitcoins two days earlier, raising close to 1 billion Czech koruna (about €40 million). According to Blazek, the money was meant to help fund the digitization of the justice system, fight drug use in prisons, and provide housing for prison staff. But a major problem was quickly pointed out by Denik N. On Thursday, the news site revealed that the bitcoins were donated by Tomas Jirikovsky, a notorious criminal convicted in 2017 of "embezzlement, drug trafficking, and illegal possession of weapons." He had been found guilty of running Sheep Marketplace, a marketplace on the dark web known for dealing illegal products.
Euronews
4 days ago
- Euronews
Kallas threatens sanctions on China over cyberattack against Czechia
The European Union is "ready to impose costs" on China in response to the cyberattack launched against the Czech Republic, High Representative Kaja Kallas has warned. "This attack is an unacceptable breach of international norms. The EU will not tolerate hostile cyber actions, and we stand in solidarity with the Czech Republic," the bloc's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday afternoon. Her comments came shortly after Prague revealed that it had identified the People's Republic of China as the state "responsible for (a) malicious cyber campaign targeting one of the unclassified networks of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs", which the country has classified as "critical infrastructure". According to the ministry, the campaign began in 2022 and was perpetrated by the Advanced Persistent Threat Group 31 (APT31), a collective of intelligence officers and contract hackers widely suspected of gathering intelligence on behalf of Beijing. APT31 has been linked to thousands of sophisticated, hard-to-track attacks aimed at compromising government agencies, military organisations and private companies. The group is associated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security. "Such behaviour undermines the credibility of the People's Republic of China and contradicts its public declarations," the Czech Foreign Ministry said. The condemnation was echoed in a statement released by Kallas on behalf of the 27 member states, where she stressed that Brussels had been "repeatedly" raising cyberattack concerns with Beijing since at least 2021. "We call upon all states, including China, to refrain from such behaviour, to respect international law and to adhere to the UN norms and principles, including those related to critical infrastructure," Kallas said. "In this context, we reiterate that states should not allow their territory to be used for malicious cyber activities." In a subsequent press conference related to the Black Sea, the High Representative upped the ante and openly threatened to slap sanctions in retaliation. "We are determined to counter malicious behaviours in cyberspace," she told reporters in Brussels. "These threats are very serious." "We will raise them with our Chinese counterparts as well," she went on. "We definitely remain ready to impose costs for these kinds of attacks." Kallas did not specify which sort of sanctions could be introduced, simply noting they would be designed on a "case-by-case" basis as the bloc did in the past. Under EU rules, approving sanctions requires the unanimity of all member states, a threshold that is often hard to meet due to disparate views and strategies inside the room. The accusations come amid intense speculation about an impending diplomatic reset between the EU and China prompted by US President Donald Trump's disruptive policies, which have hit hard allies and adversaries alike. Although Brussels has recently softened its tone to highlight potential areas of cooperation with Beijing, multiple friction points remain unaddressed, most notably the overcapacity of low-cost industrial goods and the "no-limits" partnership established between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month, Kallas described China as the "key enabler" of Russia's war on Ukraine for supplying about 80% of the dual-use goods prohibited by Western allies. "Without Chinese support, Russia wouldn't be able to wage the war in the amount that they are waging it," the High Representative said. Cyberwarfare, together with foreign information manipulations and interference (FIMI), has been another long-running dispute in bilateral relations, with alarm over Beijing's forceful attempts to sway elections, spread propaganda and influence public opinion. In a statement, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said: "The malicious cyber activity targeting the Czech Republic underscores that cyberspace is contested at all times."
France 24
4 days ago
- France 24
Czech FM summons Chinese ambassador over cyberattack
The Czech foreign ministry said an extensive investigation of the attack "led to a high degree of certainty about the responsible actor", naming it as China-linked group APT31. "I summoned the Chinese ambassador to make clear that such hostile actions have serious consequences for our bilateral relations," Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on X. The foreign ministry of the Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member of 10.9 million people, said in a statement the attack started in 2022 and targeted "one of the unclassified networks" of the ministry. "The malicious activity... was perpetrated by the cyberespionage actor APT31 that is publicly associated with the (Chinese) Ministry of State Security," the ministry added, citing its investigation. "We call on the People's Republic of China to... refrain from such attacks and to take all appropriate measures to address this situation," said the ministry. Lipavsky said that "we detected the attackers during the intrusion". The Chinese embassy in Prague slammed "the unfounded accusations against the Chinese side". "China absolutely rejects the Czech Republic's accusations and smears against China under the pretext of cybersecurity without any evidence," it added. 'Growing pattern' The Czech Security Information Office (BIS) singled out China as a threat to security in its 2024 annual report. "The Chinese embassy logically focuses on gaining information about the Czech political scene," the BIS said. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas condemned the cyberattack in a statement. "In 2021, we urged Chinese authorities to take action against malicious cyber activities undertaken from their territory," Kallas said, adding EU members have nonetheless witnessed attacks from China since then. NATO slammed the attack, saying it observed "with increasing concern the growing pattern of malicious cyber activities stemming from the People's Republic of China". Washington also condemned the attack and called on China to "behave responsibly in cyberspace, adhering to its international commitments". Taiwan ties Prague has recently angered Beijing by fostering close ties with Taiwan as high-profile Czech delegations, including the parliament speakers, have visited the island while Taiwanese officials came to Prague several times. China is trying to keep Taipei isolated on the world stage and prevents any sign of international legitimacy for the island. It sees such visits as an infringement of the one-China policy which Prague officially pursues, just like the rest of the EU. In May 2024, Lipavsky summoned the Russian ambassador over repeated cyberattacks targeting several European countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. They blamed the attacks on the Russian group APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, which has ties to Russia's GRU military intelligence service. The BIS then said that Russia was a "permanent security threat" for the Czech Republic, which provides substantial humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine battling a Russian invasion since 2022. It added the Chinese threat was also growing in the context of the Ukraine war as "the North Korea-China axis keeps cultivating relations with Russia that give it a boost in the current conflict".
