"The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been jailed for 10 and a half years after taking bribes to make pro-Russia statements while a member of the European parliament. Nathan Gill, 52, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday after previously pleading guilty to eight counts of bribery on dates between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019."
"Opening the facts of the case at the Old Bailey on Friday, prosecutor Mark Heywood KC said Gill's crimes were exposed after he was stopped at Manchester airport on 13 September 2021 and his phone was seized. He said that he was travelling to Russia by invitation to attend a scientific conference in Moscow, and that he had been invited to act as an observer in the Russian state Duma elections in the middle of that month."
"Gill's mobile phone was examined and messages were found between him and Oleg Voloshyn, now 44, who served as a pro-Russia Ukrainian government official until 2014. Mr Heywood said: The communications between the two men showed that an established relationship existed between them. WhatsApp messages between the pair included references to promised x-mas gifts, postcards, and 5K, which was a reference to payments, he said."
Nathan Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery for accepting payments to make pro-Russia statements and write opinion pieces while serving as a member of the European Parliament. He was paid 40,000 for those activities. Ms Justice Cheema-Grubb sentenced him to ten and a half years, stating that the harm caused was profound and that he had fundamentally compromised the integrity of a legislative body for substantial financial gain. Gill's conduct was uncovered after he was stopped at Manchester airport in September 2021 and his phone was seized. Messages revealed an established relationship with Oleg Voloshyn and references to gifts and '5K' payments. Gill had been an MEP since 2014 and later led Reform UK's Welsh campaign before leaving the party.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]