Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell to lodge appeal against guilty verdict

Independent Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell will appeal after being found guilty of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for the education of vulnerable and at-risk youths.

Independent Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell will lodge an appeal after he was found guilty of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On Tuesday, five days after the verdict was handed down, Mr Bell said “the past few days have been incredibly difficult for my family and myself as we come to terms with the jury’s decision”.

“After reflection, I am now ready to make a public statement,” he said.

“Based on the legal advice I have received, I have instructed my legal team to proceed with filing an appeal.”

He said no further comment could be made while the matter remained before the court – both for sentencing and eventual appeal.

Prior to the release of Mr Bell’s statement, leader of government business Tom Koutsantonis said the state government had received advice regarding the verdict.

He said, if an appeal had not been lodged within the allowed 21 days, the government would have supported a motion to vacate Mr Bell’s seat of Mount Gambier.

Leader of Government Business Tom Koutsantonis says the government would have supported a motion to vacate Mr Bell’s seat if he had not appealed. Picture: Kelly Barnes

If the seat were to be vacated, the Liberals would be favoured to win back the seat they lost when Mr Bell resigned from the party in 2017 – shortly after charges against him were first laid.

Their candidate would likely be Ben Hood, who contested the seat for the party in 2022 before he was appointed to fill a casual vacancy in the upper house.

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said “it is in the interests of the people of Mount Gambier that this matter be resolved as soon as possible”.

“While I respect the legal process, the people of Mount Gambier deserve representation,” he said.

Taxpayers could fund legal costs

Guilty Mount Gambier independent MP Troy Bell could apply to have taxpayers fund some of his legal costs through a contentious loophole in ICAC laws that were amended in 2021.

Late on Thursday, after a three-month trial, Mr Bell was found guilty by a 12-person jury for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for the education of vulnerable and at-risk kids. He was convicted of 20 counts of theft and five counts of dishonestly dealing with documents, to which he had pleaded not guilty.

Guilty: Mount Gambier independent MP Troy Bell. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

Under a provision placed in the ICAC Act 2021, Mr Bell is entitled to have his legal costs before he was charged, reimbursed by taxpayers whether he is successful in appealing the guilty verdict or not.

Mr Bell could also be reimbursed for any reviews or appeals arising out of the ICAC investigation.

On Friday, Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said a reimbursement for legal fees was “still a matter to be considered” by the parliament and that it was not an “automatic” entitlement that he would be granted.

“That is a provision that’s been included in the legislation to protect the interests of those people who might be under investigation, not necessarily followed all the way through to the extent that Mr Bell has been,” he said.

“We’ve still got a process where Mr Bell is still before the court system, and it will be a matter for the parliament to consider what it chooses to do once that process is completed.”

Mr Mullighan said the parliament would not rush to decide whether Mr Bell’s tenure was untenable, and would wait to see if he pursues an appeal.

“You can of course imagine the bind the parliament would find itself in if it rushed forward to make a decision, only to have Mr Bell vindicated at the end of that process,” he said.

“I mean, that would be an untenable position both for Mr Bell and the parliament.”

The Act states that a public officer who is subject to an ICAC investigation can apply for reimbursement of legal costs, however, if the person has been convicted of an indictable offence that constitutes “corruption in public administration”, they cannot be reimbursed for legal costs.

Charges of theft and fraud which Mr Bell was found guilty of were no longer a corruption offence under the 2021 changes to the ICAC Act.

SA Law Society President Alex Lazarevich said his organisation had made several requests to the government to clarify the application of legal reimbursement provisions, due to uncertainty about whether the reimbursement provisions were operating as intended.

“The Law Society has raised concerns that the altered definition of corruption could significantly reduce protections under the Public Disclosure Act for whistleblowers to expose corruption,” he said.

Originally published as Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell to lodge appeal against guilty verdict