Former Reform UK politician jailed for taking bribes from pro-Russians

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By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) -A British former member of the European parliament and ex-leader of the populist Reform UK in Wales was jailed for more than 10 years on Friday after admitting taking about 40,000 pounds ($52,344) in bribes to make pro-Russian speeches and statements.

Nathan Gill had pleaded guilty in September to eight counts of bribery relating to payments he had received between December 2018 and July 2019 from pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians.

Reform, currently well ahead in opinion polls, said his actions were “reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable”. The governing Labour Party called for Reform’s leader, veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, to carry out an investigation to ensure it had no pro-Russian links.

SCRIPTED PRO-RUSSIAN PUBLIC STATEMENTS

Prosecutors said Gill was stopped on his way to Russia in 2021 and police had found evidence on his phone that he had received payments to make media statements, table motions at the European Parliament and deliver pro-Russian speeches.

Former Ukrainian politician Oleg Voloshyn provided him with scripts for his public comments and provided the payments, with the source of money being pro-Russian business magnate and former Ukrainian parliamentarian Viktor Medvedchuk.

Voloshyn, who has been sanctioned by the United States, was indicted for treason in Ukraine in 2023, while Medvedchuk was sent into exile in Russia in 2022 in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war after being accused of treason and terrorism financing charges.

Gill, 52, also enlisted four other European Parliament lawmakers (MEPs), three Britons and one German, to give interviews to 112 Ukraine, a TV channel owned by an associate of Medvedchuk, with Voloshyn describing his work as “outstanding”, London’s Old Bailey court was told.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S INTEGRITY ‘FUNDAMENTALLY COMPROMISED’

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Gill his conduct had fundamentally compromised the integrity of the European Parliament, “particularly in its dealings with Russia, a persistently hostile state”.

She sentenced him to a total of 10-and-a-half years in prison.

Gill became an MEP for the UK Independence Party in 2014 and led the party in Wales from 2016.

He left UKIP in 2018 and joined the Brexit Party, the predecessor of Reform UK, the following year. Gill remained an MEP until Britain left the European Union in 2020.

“We are glad that justice has been served and fully welcome the sentence Nathan Gill has received,” said a spokesman for Reform UK which has distanced itself from Gill.

However, Labour said the party had questions to answer.

“It’s time Nigel Farage proved he isn’t happy to parrot Kremlin talking points any longer and demonstrate to the public that Putin has no hold over his party,” junior defence minister Al Carns said.

($1 = 0.7642 pounds)

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Elizabeth Piper and Conor Humphries)