South Australian MP Troy Bell told former Liberal leader Isobel Redmond how he would defend allegations in a phone call played at court
A jury has heard an intercepted phone call between the then Liberal MP Troy Bell and his party’s former leader Isobel Redmond, where they discussed an investigation into his alleged wrong doings. Bell is standing trial in the District Court, having pleaded not guilt to charges of theft and dishonest dealing with documents.
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00:00The court heard an intercepted phone call made in 2016 between Troy Bell and fellow
00:07MP and former leader of the Liberal Party, Isabel Redmond.
00:11I think I might need the name of a pretty good lawyer.
00:15At the time, anti-corruption officers were investigating the member for Mount Gambier.
00:19Over allegations he stole money from not-for-profit educational organisations he ran in the state's
00:25south-east.
00:26Do you know any more yet about specifically what they're alleging?
00:30Yep, yeah, two main things.
00:33The first said Bell was a transfer of money to a personal account.
00:36The second was an invoice between two educational services.
00:40This one I can see what they're trying to get at, but I'll have witnesses.
00:44And I think I've got a way around it anyway, but there is a little smoke there anyway.
00:49Ms Redmond testified she was a colleague and a friend of Mr Bell at the time of the call,
00:54adding they sat next to each other in the lower house in parliament after she quit
00:58as Liberal leader in 2013.
01:00The then-member for Heysen reassuring him about his political future.
01:04My fear is small community.
01:06This is a very, very small community who, you know, probably love me to bits.
01:12You've got enough political capital in your community to write out something far worse
01:16than this.
01:17Troy Bell quit the Liberal Party after he was charged in 2017 and has been re-elected
01:22as the independent member for Mount Gambier twice since.
01:26He has always maintained his innocence and has pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of theft
01:30and six counts of dishonest dealing with documents, which allegedly occurred between 2009 and
01:362013, before he entered politics.
01:39His trial continues.