A former Member of European Parliament (MEP) has pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery, after an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing uncovered how he received payment in return for making statements which supported the presence of pro-Russian media outlets in Ukraine.
Nathan Gill, 52 (06.07.1973), of North Wales pleaded guilty on Friday, 26 September at the Old Bailey to eight counts of bribery, under the Bribery Act, 2010.
Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, which led the investigation, said: “Our investigation uncovered an elected MEP was taking payments to peddle narratives that would have had the effect of being beneficial towards Russian interests. The strength of the case put together by our investigation team working with the prosecutors has led to Gill pleading guilty to these offences today.
“This case goes to the heart of our democratic values and as we’ve shown here, we will not hesitate to investigate and disrupt anyone seeking to harm or undermine these values and our national security.”
Gill was stopped by police on 13 September, 2021 at Manchester airport. He was stopped under schedule 3 of the Counter Terrorism and Borders Security Act, 2019 and officers seized his mobile phone for further examination. Following this stop, Counter Terrorism detectives also carried out a search at Gill’s home address in north Wales, where further electronic items were seized.
Officers found evidence on his devices that showed how Gill was in contact another individual in Ukraine and that Gill had agreed that, in exchange for money, he would make certain statements that were supportive of pro-Russia media being present in Ukraine.
The investigation team compiled messages from Gill’s devices which demonstrated this activity, matching it up to open-source material which showed how Gill had made corresponding statements – some of which appeared in Ukrainian media. Detectives identified eight such instances between January 2018 and February 2020.
Gill was interviewed under caution in March 2022 but made no comment to the questions put to him. After further enquiries were carried out, and liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service, various bribery charged were authorised and Gill was issued with these via postal charge requisition on 20 January, 2025.
Gill pleaded guilty to the eight bribery charges as detailed above. He pleaded not guilty to an addition charge of conspiracy to commit bribery, under the Criminal Law Act 1977 and this will lie on file. Gill was released on bail ahead of sentencing, which is due to take place at the Old Bailey on 21 November.