Nathan Gill to pocket 'generous' EU pension after completing prison sentence for accepting Russian bribes

Luke James, Brussels

The disgraced former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, will remain eligible to start receiving a “generous” European Union pension less than two months after completing his sentence for accepting Russian bribes, Nation.Cymru can reveal.

The former member of the European Parliament was sentenced to ten years and six months’ imprisonment at the Old Bailey yesterday after admitting to receiving at least £40,000 in return for peddling pro-Russian propaganda.

It means his sentence will finish 46 days short of his 63rd birthday, when he will become eligible to start receiving a pension worth more than €25,000 a year - around £22,000 at today’s exchange rate.

Gill also remains eligible for a much smaller Senedd pension. The situation has sparked anger among politicians and campaigners in Brussels and Cardiff who told Nation.Cymru the rules should be changed to prevent similar cases.

Nick Aiossa, Director at Transparency International EU, said: "EU citizens expect the actions of their elected representatives to have consequences. There is no reason any MEP who abuses their office, and accepts bribes, should be able to receive a European taxpayer-funded pension."

During Gill’s sentencing, the court heard how he had parroted almost verbatim statements which had been prepared for him by Oleg Voloshyn, a former pro-Russian politician in Ukraine who has been sanctioned by the US Treasury for acting as a “pawn” of the Russian secret service and is wanted for high treason in Ukraine.

Nation.Cymru was first to reveal in 2023 that Voloshyn was at the centre of a pro-Russian lobbying network that organised multiple trips to Ukraine and Moldova for Gill, including to the headquarters of pro-Russian media in Ukraine that he would go on to advocate for in the European Parliament.

Gill was arrested at Manchester airport in 2021 while on his way to Moscow. The FBI helped prove incriminating messages found on his phone were with Voloshyn. They ranged from coded references to bribes, such as the offer of “Xmas gifts”, to explicit offers of “5k” in exchange for political favours.

The damage done to the reputation of the European Parliament should mean Gill is excluded from its pension scheme, according to a member of its budgetary control committee.

'Corruption'

Daniel Freund, a Green MEP from Germany, told Nation.Cymru: "Anyone who has been legally convicted of corruption in connection with their work in the European Parliament should, of course, be punished for it.

“And we need to look at pensions as well: if someone has seriously damaged the Parliament’s reputation, they should not continue to receive a generous pension from the European Parliament."

The European Parliament said it has recently strengthened rules on integrity and transparency.

However, its rules state all former MEPs who served for at least one year are eligible for life to a pension “equal to 3.5% of their salary for each full year in office and one twelfth thereof for each further full month.” As Gill served five years and seven months, he is eligible to receive around €2,135 a month.

Members of the Senedd receive 2% of their salary for each year they serve. Gill sat as a UK Independence Party and then independent member between May 2016 and December 2017. That would make him eligible for a total pension of around £2,000.

'Disqualified'

Mick Antoniw, a Welsh Labour MS and former chief legal adviser to the Welsh Government, said the rules should be changed to exclude people found guilty of serious misconduct.

“Someone who has abused their position to take a criminal financial advantage should be disqualified from pension entitlement at the expense of public funds,” he said.

The Senedd pension scheme is covered by the Pensions Act 1995 which includes limited scope for the removal of eligibility, such as convictions for treason or under the Official Secrets Act or National Security Act.

However, the Department for Work and Pensions said trustees of a pension scheme, including that of the Senedd, could include ‘forfeiture’ rules in cases of gross misconduct. No such rules are currently included in the Senedd’s scheme.

Similar rules are included in the pension schemes of police officers, who can be stripped of their pensions in cases of misconduct to prevent a loss of public trust in the service.

Daniel Greenberg, the UK Parliament’s commissioner for standards, said last year that a House of Commons review could see MPs convicted of serious crimes could lose their parliamentary pension.

“The House may in due course wish to consider, in particular, ensuring that where misconduct consists or results in a loss to the public purse, the possibilities of recovering the loss from pension benefits are the same for Members as for other public officials,” he told the Telegraph.

Nation.Cymru asked the Senedd’s Commissioner for Standards, Douglas Bain, whether similar rules would be considered in Wales but he declined to comment.