Former Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell will spend a minimum of two years and six months in jail after being sentenced in the District Court this morning.
The former MP appeared in the District Court in Adelaide at 10am for sentencing after being found guilty of 25 fraud related charges.
Mr Bell was sentenced to five years in jail, with a non parole period of two years and six months.
Delivering the sentence, Judge Rauf Soulio said there is “no evidence” to Mr Bell’s motivation in offending and that Mr Bell has not taken responsibility or offered an explanation for his crimes.
Judge Souilo said he considered a number of letters of support that described Mr Bell as an “effective local member of parliament” including one from Travis Fatchen and Terry Stephens MLC. Judge Soulio said it was “serious and significant offending” and sentencing must reflect that but that he would take into account that Mr Bell “contributed significantly to the community”.
He said that due to Mr Bell’s period of offending and position “of authority and trust” he had no other option but imprisonment.
The District Court spent more than three months hearing the charges levelled at Mr Bell, who pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of alleged theft and six counts of alleged dishonestly dealing with documents.
The jury found him guilty of all the theft counts and on five counts of dishonestly dealing with documents, while finding him not guilty of one charge of dishonestly dealing with documents.
The alleged offences relate to his work for an independent learning centre in the Limestone Coast and prior to him being elected as a Liberal MP in 2014.
Mr Bell was charged with the offences in 2017 after an investigation by South Australia’s Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.
The prosecution had alleged Mr Bell had used his position to steal more than $400,000 from not-for-profit educational organisations between 2009 and 2013.
The 52-year-old continued with his usual parliamentary and other duties over the past eight years and was re-elected as an Independent MP in 2018 and 2022, however he resigned from parliament last month after his appeal against the verdict failed.
The Supreme Court of Appeal’s three judges found that Mr Bell had a financial motive and became “increasingly emboldened” in his theft.
In its written reasons, the court said the personal benefits gained by Bell “provided evidence of a financial motive for the dishonest conduct alleged by the prosecution”.
“In addition to the overall sum of the moneys transferred to the appellant’s benefit, the pattern of increasing benefits over time was consistent with, if not demonstrative of, an increasingly emboldened appellant,” the court said.
“In summary, we are satisfied the evidence established beyond reasonable doubt the appellant’s dishonesty, and ultimately guilt, in relation to each of the charged counts.”
It was subsequently revealed that Mr Bell is set to face more than 50 allegations regarding the Country Members Accommodation Allowance.
Mr Bell will answer the allegations, which were previously suppressed, now that sentencing has taken place for the fraud and theft charges.
