Former Ipswich Andrew Antoniolli mayor guilty of 13 fraud-related charges

Former Ipswich mayor Andrew Antoniolli has been found guilty of 12 counts of fraud and one count of attempted fraud following a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation that led to the sacking of the entire Ipswich City Council in 2018.

FORMER Ipswich mayor Andrew Antoniolli has been found guilty of 12 counts of fraud and one count of attempted fraud.

The verdict was handed down today in Ipswich Magistrates Court by Magistrate Anthony Gett who took two hours to read through each of the 12 fraud charges and one charge of attempted fraud.

Mr Gett told the court he found Antoniolli self-serving and disingenuous is his assessment of his evidence.

He found Antoniolli’s actions to be “dishonest to the standards of ordinary and decent people”.

Former Ipswich mayor Andrew Antoniolli arrives at Ipswich Magistrates Court today. Picture: Jono Searle/AAP

His trial followed a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation that led to the sacking of the entire Ipswich City Council in 2018.

Antoniolli on May 8 pleaded not guilty to 13 fraud charges allegedly committed between 2005 and 2017 when he was the division seven councillor for Ipswich.

He had bid on items at charity auctions during the 12-year period, charging the money for items won back to the council’s community donation fund.

During the trial, an interview between Antoniolli and the Crime and Corruption Commission was played to the court, in which the councillor said he had made several purchases at auctions using community donation funds.

“Obviously this has been a practicing custom that has been around since about 2004,” he told investigators.

“When did I start doing it I don’t rightly remember.

“I’d say over the course of that period I only would’ve acquired two dozen items give or take.”

Antoniolli’s solicitor Dan Rogers successfully applied for the sentence to be adjourned until July 30 and that it be given by a Brisbane magistrate and not an Ipswich magistrate.