The former leader of UKIP Scotland was named in text messages sent to Nathan Gill
David Coburn, a former MEP who was a member of UKIP and then the Brexit Party, has denied taking pro-Russia bribes.
The former leader of UKIP Scotland was named in text messages sent to Nathan Gill.
Gill was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison last Friday for accepting £40,000 in bribes from Oleg Voloshyn to make pro-Russia statements.
In WhatsApp messages between Voloshyn, a former pro-Russian MP in the Ukraine parliament and Gill, they discuss a £5,000 payment that had apparently been set aside for another MEP.
The other MEP is referred to as “D” and “David”.
The messages were sent on 3 April 2019, two months after Coburn left UKIP and joined the Brexit Party.
Coburn and fellow former UKIP and Brexit Party MEP Jonathan Arnott both visited the two pro-Russian TV channels called 112 Ukraine and NewsOne with Gill in October 2018.
Both Coburn and Arnott also spoke up for the broadcasters in the same European Parliament debate in December 2018 where Gill made a speech sent to him by Voloshyn in return for money.
The BBC reports that Coburn denied taking any payments to make pro-Russia statements.
In a tense exchange outside his chateau in Northern France, Coburn tried to drive off but stalled his car as a BBC journalist spoke to him.
When a journalist asked him whether he had ever received money to give a speech promoting pro-Russian campaigners, he replied: “No”.
A Crown Prosecution Service document submitted to the Old Bailey last week for Gill’s sentencing referred to the £5,000 payment.
The BBC said it has not seen evidence that Coburn was directly offered or received any money.
The Met Police’s counter terrorism commander Dominic Murphy has indicated that his team are now investigating several other former British MEPs.
Image credit – Creative Commons: Derek Bennett
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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