Former Brexit Party MEP denies taking payment from pro-Russian campaign

A prominent former politician from Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has denied that he took payments as part of a pro-Russian influence campaign in the European Parliament.

David Coburn has been named in a series of WhatsApp messages between an alleged “pawn” of the main security agency in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and disgraced former MEP Nathan Gill.

Coburn was also the leader of the UK Independence Party of Scotland, while Gill led the party in Wales and they served together as MEPs for five years.

The messages were released following the sentencing of Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, who was jailed for 10-and-a-half years last week after accepting bribes to give pro-Russian interviews and speeches.

Oleg Voloshin, a former pro-Russian member of the Ukraine parliament, is shown on WhatsApp apparently discussing money set aside for Coburn while he was bribing Gil.

A document handed to the Old Bailey last week by the Crown Prosecution Service for Gill’s sentencing hearing includes a message from Voloshin discussing a payment of $6,500 (about £5,000) to another MEP.

Speaking outside his palace in France, former Brexit Party and UKIP MEP Coburn replied “no” when a BBC journalist asked him if he had ever been paid to give speeches promoting pro-Russian campaigners.

The BBC has not seen evidence that Coburn – who led the now-defunct UKIP party in Scotland between 2014 and 2018 – was directly given or received any money.

The messages were sent on 3 April 2019, two months after Coburn joined the Brexit Party, now known as Reform UK.

The CPS claims that the conversation is about participation in a meeting of the “editorial boards” of two pro-Russian TV channels in Ukraine called 112 Ukraine and NewsOne.

Both were linked to Viktor Medvedchuk, a super-wealthy Ukrainian oligarch whose daughter is godfather to Putin and who is a key and close ally of Putin.

Sentencing Gill to 10-and-a-half years in prison last week after admitting eight counts of bribery, judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Medvedchuk was the “ultimate source of solicitations and funds” Gill received.

The CPS document said the messages were found on Gill’s seized mobile phone when counter-terrorism officers took his device after stopping him at Manchester Airport in 2021 – two days before he was due to speak at a conference in Moscow.

The WhatsApp is about money that Voloshin gave to Gil to distribute between himself and the mentioned “other MEPs”.

This “other MEP” is referred to as “Dee” and “David”.

Coburn was the only person named David to appear publicly on this editorial board.

Gill writes that he is “looking at D… in the morning” and asks “how much it was for him.”

Voloshin replied “6.5 USD” – apparently meaning $6,500.

There is some confusion between Voloshin and Gil as to how much cash was given to Gil.

Once this was finalized, Voloshin confirmed that Gil would be given an additional $4,500 in the morning “and the other $2 you already have for David.”

The BBC had previously made several attempts to contact Coburn, a Scottish MEP for five years between 2014 and 2019, but did not receive a reply.

The BBC visited the 66-year-old man at his rural home in northern France to personally ask him whether he had ever been paid money in connection with the Gill bribery case.

Coburn replied “no” as he left the house – but stopped answering when asked why he was named in the court documents.

He did not respond to further written requests for comment.

Coburn and fellow former UKIP and Brexit Party MEP Jonathan Arnott both visited two pro-Russian TV channels with Gill in October 2018.

Both Coburn and Arnott also spoke for broadcasters at the same European Parliament debate where Gill gave the speech in exchange for money.

Arnott previously told the BBC that if Gill had offered him money, he would have gone to the police.

He also said that he criticized Russia in his speech and said that the notion that he is doing what Russia wants “proves to be meaningless.”

Speaking in the European Parliament in December 2018, Coburn made similar points to Gill.

“The President of Ukraine and the Rada Parliament are conspiring to shut down TV Channel 112 and Channel One,” Coburn told a plenary session in Strasbourg.

“Can this Chamber truthfully say that Ukraine, which behaves like this, is ready for accession to the EU?”

Pro-Russian channels were shut down in 2021 under the leadership of Ukraine’s current leader, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Gil was also bribed to arrange interviews with other MEPs for TV stations linked to Medvedchuk.

Many of these were members of UKIP, the Brexit Party or both – but the court heard there was no evidence to suggest they knew Gill was being bribed.

The head of the Met’s counter-terrorism unit said that Gil “clearly had a leadership role” and used his influence to get other MEPs to “speak openly in support of the Russian narrative in Ukraine”.

“In some of the negotiations it appears that money has been set aside to allow other individuals to be paid for their services,” Met Police Commander Dominic Murphy told the BBC before Gill was sentenced.

Voloshin’s phone was examined when he was stopped by FBI investigators at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC, in July 2021.

That month, the Speaker of the House of Commons warned MPs against talking to Voloshin because he had reportedly sought the support of UK politicians to “promote Russian foreign policy objectives”.

The US government imposed sanctions on Voloshin in 2022, calling him a “pawn” of Russia’s security service the FSB and accusing him of undermining Ukraine’s government.

That same year, the UK government also imposed sanctions on Voloshin and Medvedchuk, accusing both of “destabilizing Ukraine”.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on Reform UK leader Farage, the former head of UKIP and the Brexit Party, to “launch an immediate investigation into his own party” to look into “other links between his party and Russia.”

Farage said he was “pretty confident, as confident as I can be,” that no one else in any of his parties, past or present, has done this to Gill.

Farage said they were “not a police force” and did not have investigative powers, but said there should be a comprehensive investigation into Russian and Chinese interference in British politics, suggesting that MI5 should conduct it.

Reform UK said in a statement that Coburn has “no involvement” with the current party.

A Met Police spokesman said no one else had been arrested or questioned under caution, but said the force’s investigation “will continue.”