MEMBER for Mount Gambier Troy Bell has been accused of a period of fraudulent conduct – which included outright thefts, overcharging, forgery of documents and money laundering – a court has heard.
Facing 20 counts of theft and six of dishonestly dealing with documents, Mr Bell, 47, has already pleaded not guilty to all charges and is listed for arraignment today.
However, new details about the case emerged on Friday when the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mark Norman SC provided a brief outline of their case at an application hearing in the Adelaide District Court.
The application by the DPP was to have the trial moved from Mount Gambier to the Adelaide Supreme Court.
“It’s very complicated and the trial simply will not fit in the Mount Gambier Courthouse, that’s regardless of whether it will be cheaper and more convenient to the accused,” Mr Norman said.
“It is because of… the length, the complexity and the gravity we say this matter should be heard by the Supreme Court.”
The complexities of the case were outlined by Mr Norman who described it as “hundreds of acts” of dishonesty detailed in thousands of documents.
“One aspect of the case, if I can put it in this way is if say the accused received $10 to run a program, he puts $10 into his bank account and he keeps $3 and returns $7 to operate the program,” Mr Norman said.
“That is one facet of the fraud. But there is also the aspect of overcharging, that is, accreting enough finances that money can be taken out, salted away and the program can run efficiently and very successfully as it did.”
Attempting to grasp the basis of the DPP’s case, Judge Peter Brebner put it into simple terms.
“So he can keep the program running, allaying suspicion and skimming a bit of cream off the top for himself,” Judge Brebner said.
“That puts it as simply as possible,” Mr Norman replied.
Mr Norman said the case would also use a “paper trail” to form a “historical explanation of how the fraud developed”.
“It grew, it metamorphasised effectively,” he said.
“It’s described as outright thefts. It involves offset accounting, taking the benefit of that interest.
“It transforms into creating false invoices, there is then a creation of false accounts so an accountant is brought in, an auditor is brought in and there is a creation of dishonest documentation and this takes place over five years.”
Despite the seriousness of the allegations made by the DPP on Friday, Mr Bell remained steadfast in his defence when speaking to The Border Watch on Monday.
“I completely deny the allegations tabled against me and I look forward to clearing my name,” Mr Bell said.
Dealing with the basis of the application to have the trial moved to Adelaide, Mr Bell’s defence counsel Mark Griffin QC strongly opposed.
“This is not a matter that has such complexity or involves matters of such serious nature that it needs to be elevated to the Supreme Court,” Mr Griffin said.
“This court deals with matters of this nature on a small, or a medium, or a larger basis every week of the year…”
Mr Griffin argued there were some “very significant reasons” the case should not be moved to Adelaide.
“There are some 22 witnesses on the current list who live in the Mount Gambier region,” Mr Griffin said.
“The total effect of various expenses would be at least $120,000 etc. that Mr Bell would have to find and spend in relation to his legal case being conducted here in Adelaide.”
These expenses are on top of other legal fees for the local member.
Despite this, Mr Norman raised further concerns regarding jury contamination if the application was refused.
“We have school employees – the chances of someone knowing a member of the prospective jury is extremely high,” Mr Norman said.
“There is this question of how one can properly deal with the accused’s constituents being in the jury pool.”
Ultimately, Judge Brebner identified Mount Gambier’s court resources as one of the fundamental issues.
“It seems to me one of the fundamental issues is whether a trial can be managed so the jury can properly understand it,” Judge Brebner said.
“I wonder whether it might be worthwhile finishing the application off down in Mount Gambier so we can all have a good look at what is available and have a think about what might be done to overcome what are plainly going to be some of the difficulties given the size of the thing.”
Judge Brebner adjourned the application hearing to later in October at Mount Gambier.
Despite this, Mr Bell will still be arraigned today in the Mount Gambier District Court.
