Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he was “stunned” when he found out his party’s former leader in Wales took bribes to make statements in favour of Russia while a Member of the European Parliament.
Last month, Nathan Gill, pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019.
Asked, by BBC Wales, if he questioned Gill over the statements, Farage said: “I didn’t know anything about it, all I knew was that he’d been to Ukraine.”
“I told him not to go, he defied me and went, I was completely unaware of any statements that he made.” Gill, who is no longer a Reform member, also used to be a politician in Cardiff Bay.
He was one of seven UKIP politicians elected to the Senedd in 2016 when the party was led by Farage.
Gill took money from Oleg Voloshyn, once described by the US government as a “pawn” of Russian secret services, and made pro-Russian speeches in the European Parliament, statements to a TV channel and arranged an event with a politician close to Moscow.
Mr Voloshyn is a former member of the Ukrainian parliament for the pro-Russian Opposition Platform for Life party.
Gill’s activities emerged in WhatsApp messages on his phone after he was stopped at Manchester Airport on September 13 2021 under counter-terrorism laws.
On a campaign visit, on Friday, for the upcoming Caerphilly Senedd by-election, Farage responded publicly for the first time to the Gill bribery case.
“I’d known this person for a very long time, I knew him in the European Parliament in the UKIP days to be a God-fearing Christian, somebody that you would think was the least corruptible person that you would know,” he said.
Asked if he knew about Gill making pro-Russian statements, Farage said: “I didn’t know anything about it.”
“All I knew was that he’d been to Ukraine. He said ‘we’re going on a visit to Ukraine, do you want to come?’
“I said ‘you’re off your rocker, this is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, you must be mad’. And I told him not to go.
“He defied me and went. I was completely unaware of any statements that he made.”
Gill served as a UKIP, and later Brexit Party, MEP between 2014 and 2020 and was leader of UKIP Wales between 2014 and 2016.
He was leader of Reform UK Wales between March and May 2021, leading the party’s Senedd/Welsh Parliament election campaign but is no longer in the party.
Gill will be sentenced in November. His defence barrister has said he expects to be jailed.
The Caerphilly Senedd by-election, prompted by the sudden death of Labour Senedd member Hefin David in August, takes place on 23 October.
Eight candidates are standing:
Liberal Democrats: Steve AichelerGwlad: Anthony CookGreens: Gareth HughesConservatives: Gareth PotterReform: Llyr PowellUKIP: Roger QuilliamLabour: Richard TunnicliffePlaid Cymru: Lindsay Whittle
You can find out more about the candidates here.