South Australian independent MP Troy Bell has been found guilty of 20 counts of theft, following a three-month trial.
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00:00After two days of deliberation, a District Court jury found Independent MP Troy Stephen
00:07Bell guilty of 20 counts of theft.
00:09He'd previously pleaded not guilty to those 20 counts of theft and also to six counts
00:14of dishonest dealing with documents.
00:16He was found not guilty of just one of those counts of dishonest dealing with documents.
00:21Prosecutors said that Bell had abused his position as an employee for the Department
00:25of Education to steal more than $430,000 from not-for-profit educational organisations
00:32between 2009 and 2013.
00:34They alleged that he used the money to fund home renovations and also to repay credit
00:38card debts and that the alleged offending ended when Bell left that role to pursue politics.
00:44He won the March 2014 election as a Liberal candidate but left the party after he was
00:49charged in 2017.
00:51He's since been re-elected as the Independent MP for Mount Gambier in 2018 and also in 2022.
00:58This was a lengthy trial which saw evidence like an intercepted phone call between Bell
01:03and the former Liberal leader Isabel Redmond during which he asked for help to find a pretty
01:08good lawyer.
01:09Bell's lawyer, Nick Healy, had argued that the prosecution's case against him was a
01:13mad rabble and that it had more holes in it than a balfour's crumpet.
01:17It also labelled it misguided, confusing and internally inconsistent.
01:21Yesterday outside of court, neither Bell or his lawyer commented on the matter and we'll
01:26be waiting now to see Bell appearing in court at a later date for sentencing.