Uh oh. The ex-leader of Reform UK in Wales has appeared in court after being accused of accepting Russian bribes. Nathan Gill, 51, is facing eight counts of bribery alongside one count of conspiracy to commit bribery – to make statements, it is alleged, that would benefit Russia in the European parliament. Good heavens…
Initially a Ukip member, Gill became a Brexit party MEP between 2014 and 2020. The ex-Reform leader has been accused of receiving money from the Ukrainian politician – and his co-defendant in the case – Oleg Voloshyn in return for making specific statements on at least eight occasions. The court heard that Gill’s remarks, made both in the European parliament and in Ukrainian media, were ‘supportive of a particular narrative’ which would ‘benefit Russia regarding events in Ukraine’. Crikey.
After his time in the European parliament, Gill led Reform’s 2021 Welsh parliament election campaign but is no longer the leader of the group – which, like its Scottish counterpart, has refused to elect a party leader in advance of the Senedd elections.
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