UK court jails ex-MEP for 10 years for pro-Russia bribes

Former MEP and Welsh leader of the Reform UK party Nathan Gill was Friday jailed for 10 years and six months by a UK court for taking bribes to deliver pro-Russia speeches in the European parliament.

Gill pleaded guilty at London’s Old Bailey criminal court in September to accepting thousands of euros (dollars) from a pro-Russian politician in Ukraine, and making scripted statements and television appearances at his behest.

These involved raising concerns about democracy in Ukraine, and criticizing Volodymyr Zelensky when he was elected as the country’s president.

“You abused a position of significant authority and trust,” judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said, handing down the sentence, adding that Gill’s conduct “fundamentally compromised the integrity of a supranational legislative body.”

“You accepted payments from foreign nationals, made statements on important international matters at their behest, utilized scripted material presented as your own, and orchestrated the involvement of other MEPs.”

Gill was an MEP from 2014 to 2020 as a member of the Euroskeptic UKIP party, including when it was led by current Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

He was also leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, and was briefly a member of the Welsh parliament, called the Senedd, from 2016 to 2017.

He pled guilty to eight counts of accepting bribes between December 2018 and July 2019 from Ukrainian politician Oleg Voloshyn, who was later sanctioned by the United States and indicted for treason in Ukraine.

Police stopped and seized Gill’s phone in September 2021 when he was traveling to Russia for a scientific conference.

They found WhatsApp message exchanges with Voloshyn starting in September 2018, including Gill agreeing to make introductions in the European parliament and to try to win over “several MEPs.”

Farage — whose Reform UK party is topping several popularity polls in Britain — has said he did not know about his former colleague’s missteps. Gill is no longer a Reform member.

However, the case could be a headache for Farage, who has been criticized as being too soft in his stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Farage is also hoping that Reform will take power in the Welsh parliament in local elections next May.

The hard-right, anti-immigration party’s only member in the devolved Welsh parliament was suspended on Wednesday for using a racial slur.