Former SA MP Troy Bell jailed for fraud and

theft offending

November 2025 Former South Australian MP Troy Bell will spend at least two-and-a- half years in jail for stealing more than $430,000 in public money meant for not-for-profit education organisations. The 52-year-old former member for Mount Gambier was sentenced to five years’ jail in the District Court today after a jury last year found him guilty of 20 counts of theft and five counts of dishonest dealing with documents. The court previously heard he had spent the money on home renovations and credit card debts. The judge said Bell’s offending was too serious for anything other than an immediate jail term and set a two-and-a-half-year non- parole period. Judge Rauf Soulio said Bell’s “theft of public monies over a sustained period is serious and significant offending”. The jury had heard he stole an amount totalling $436,023.24, which was intended to support disengaged and vulnerable high school students to re-engage in study. Bell held a position at the helm of the Independent Learning Centre (ILC) in Mount Gambier, which he had helped establish in 2006. The South East seat remains vacant following Bell’s resignation in September, after the House Speaker chose not to hold a by- election due to proximity with the March 2026 state election.

Greek Tribune Adelaide, South Australia