Ex-Reform leader in Wales ordered to pay more than £22,500
Nathan Gill is already serving time in jail after pleading guilty to eight counts of bribery
The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been ordered to pay more than £22,500 after accepting bribes to make pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament.
Nathan Gill, 53, of Anglesey, North Wales, was given six months to sell his rental property to pay the money into Government coffers or face a further nine months in prison.
He is already serving 10 and a half years in jail after he pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery on dates between December 6 2018 and July 18 2019.
Gill was not required to be present at the Old Bailey on Thursday for a confiscation hearing before Judge Richard Marks KC.
The judge identified the amount of ill-gotten gains as £22,592.41 and ordered him to pay the same amount over six months or face a custodial penalty of nine months.
Clare Ashcroft, representing Gill, told the court that Gill would need time to sell his rental property to make the payment.
She said: “The property needs to be sold. Notice has been given to the tenants. Until these tenants vacate, that property cannot be put on the market.”
It is understood the rental property and Gill’s family home are both in Anglesey, Wales.
In November last year, Gill became the first British politician to be sentenced under the Bribery Act of 2010.
At the time of the offences, Gill was a member of the European Parliament, having been originally elected for the UK Independence Party (Ukip).
His activities included making pro-Russian statements about events in Ukraine in the European Parliament and in opinion pieces to news outlets, such as 112 Ukraine.
The architect of the bribes was Oleg Voloshyn, 44, a former pro-Russian Ukrainian MP, who with his wife was connected to 112 Ukraine.
The television channel was owned by wealthy pro-Russian Ukrainian Victor Medvedchuk, 71, who was a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the ultimate source of requests and money that Gill received.
Gill’s crimes were exposed after he was stopped at Manchester airport on September 13 2021 as he attempted to travel to Russia.
His mobile phone was examined and messages were found between him and Voloshyn.
WhatsApp messages between them included references to “promised x-mas gifts”, “postcards” and “5K” which was a reference to payments, he said.
Gill led Reform UK’s 2021 Welsh Parliament election campaign but is no longer a member of the party.
Sentencing last November, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Gill that he had allowed money to corrupt his “moral compass” and that amounted to “a grave betrayal of the trust vested in you by the electorate”.
She told him: “Your misconduct has ramifications far beyond personal honour, which is now irretrievably damaged. It erodes public confidence in democracy itself.”