UK and appalling bribery
It’s always reassuring to see bribery being punished, but cases such as these remind us that there are many forms of bribetaking that can occur, and though we mustn’t judge one form of bribery as worse than another, but this one is on its face appalling. The Guardian reported that Nathan Gill, while he was a representative of the United Kingdon at the European Parliament accepted bribes to make statements in the European parliament and in opinion pieces to news outlets such as 112 Ukraine that were “supportive of a particular narrative” that would “benefit Russia regarding events in Ukraine”. He was tasked by Oleg Voloshyn, a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian, on at least eight occasions to make specific statements in return for money, the court was told.” He will be sentenced at a later date, and he looks like he will be serving time in prison.
Why should we care? This case is an important reminder of the more intangible harm that corruption can cause. In this instance, Mr. Gill was not helping someone with a purchasing land or moving a permit forward, through bribes, but he was presenting disinformation, on behalf of the United Kingdom, favoring Russia in the European parliament. The harm in this case is not in pounds or hryvna, but in the intangible messaging that cannot be quantified. The unfortunate consequence is that his messaging could sway some who were less aware and believed that Mr. Gill, as a representative of the United Kingdom, was presenting an opinion that came from him as an honest representative of his country. How this affected people at a time prior to the horrific war in Ukraine is unknown and as such is disturbing. This case, in my opinion, is more reprehensible than other bribe taking actions, as we cannot easily know the impact of Mr. Gill’s actions and my hope is that the UK justice system will take that into consideration when sentencing him.
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