THE ex-leader of Reform UK in Wales has appeared in court accused of accepting bribes in exchange for making favourable statements about Russia in the European Parliament.
Nathan Gill is facing eight counts of bribery and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
The court heard the 51-year-old – from Llangefni on Anglesey – was alleged to have received money from his co-defendant and former Ukrainian politician Oleg Voloshyn.
McGill, who was a UKIP and Brexit Party MEP between 2014 and 2020, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court by video link on Monday.
The defendant is alleged to have been tasked by Voloshyn on at least eight occasions to make specific statements in return for money.
The court heard the statements made in the European Parliament and in opinion pieces to news outlets were "supportive of a particular narrative" which would "benefit Russia regarding events in Ukraine".
A lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the court that Gill was stopped at Manchester Airport on September 13, 2021 under anti-terror legislation.
His mobile phone was seized and evidence was found that he was in a professional relationship with Valoshyn and had agreed to "receive or accept monies in return for him performing activities as an MEP", the court heard.
Barrister Richard Link for the CPS told the court that Gill agreed to make statements in the European Parliament for money, that would "tend to benefit Russia in relation to events in Ukraine at that time".
The Crown said the alleged offences were carried out during Gill's time as an MEP and before the UK left the European Parliament, on January 31, 2020.
Gill was first elected as a UKIP MEP in 2014 and joined the National Assembly, as it was then called, in 2016.
He was an Assembly Member for just over a year, before he was replaced by Mandy Jones in December 2017.
He served as UKIP's leader for Wales and was briefly an independent before joining Reform's predecessor organisation, the Brexit Party, in 2019.
Gill led Reform's 2021 Welsh Parliament election campaign.
He was granted bail on the condition that he surrender his passport, is not to obtain international travel documents and not to contact Voloshyn.
He is due to appear at the Old Bailey on March 14.
