UK politician sentenced to over 10 years for accepting bribes to make pro-Russia statements

LONDON (AP) — A hard-right British politician and former ally of Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage was sentenced Friday to 10 1/2 years in prison for accepting bribes to make favorable statements about Russia in the European Parliament.

Nathan Gill, 52, pleaded guilty earlier this year to eight counts of bribery between December 2018 and July 2019. Police have estimated that the former leader of Reform in Wales took around 40,000 pounds ($53,000) in bribes.

Prosecutors said Gill, a member of the European Union legislature until the U.K.’s departure from the bloc in early 2020, was tasked by the former pro-Russia Ukrainian politician Oleg Voloshyn to make pro-Russian statements about events in Ukraine in the European Parliament and in opinion pieces to news outlets, such as 112 Ukraine.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, having annexed parts of the country, including the Crimea peninsula, eight years earlier. The U.K. has been one of the most stalwart supporters of Ukraine since the invasion.

Sentencing him at London’s Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Gill had allowed money to “corrupt his moral compass” when it had been his duty as an elected official to “speak with honesty and conviction.”

“When you say what someone has paid you to say you are not speaking with sincerity,” the judge said.

Gill was stopped at Manchester Airport in September 2021 as he attempted to travel to Russia, and was charged in February of this year following an investigation.

His mobile phone was examined and messages were found between him and Voloshyn, 44, that provided coded references to their financial dealings. The messages also indicated that Gill was co-opted to encourage other members of the European Parliament to back Russia’s stance on Ukraine.

“The communications between the two men showed that an established relationship existed between them,” prosecutor Mark Heywood said.

Gill was first elected to the European Parliament in 2014 for the anti-EU U.K. Independence Party, which was then led by Farage. He later represented the Brexit Party, the next party led by Farage, and remained in the legislature until Britain left the European Union in 2020.

He led the Welsh branch of the Brexit Party’s successor Reform U.K. during 2021 elections in Wales but is no longer a member of the party, which is leading in Britain in opinion polls.

Gill’s sentencing has sparked calls for investigations into Russian interference in British politics and any further links, if any, with Reform U.K., which has consistently taken a less hostile attitude toward Russian President Vladimir Putin than other parties.

“A traitor was at the very top of Reform U.K., aiding and abetting a foreign adversary,” said Ed Davey, the leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats. “Nigel Farage himself was previously paid to be on Putin’s TV channel, Russia Today, and said he was the world leader he admires the most. We must all ask – where do his loyalties really lie? We need a full investigation into Russian interference in our politics.”

In a statement, Reform said Gill’s actions were “reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable” and that it was pleased that “justice has been served.”

Farage has previously said that Gill was a “bad apple” and that any political party “can find in their midst all sorts of terrible people.”

Voloshyn, who had links to media outlets such as 112 Ukraine, is believed to be living in Russia and is wanted by authorities in Britain and Ukraine.