Jailed former MP pleads guilty to misusing parliamentary allowance

• By Eva Blandis

• Topic:Courts

Posted Wed 4 Nov 2026 at 1:36pmWed 4 Nov 2026 at 1:36pm

In short:

Former South Australian MP Troy Bell has pleaded guilty to 15 charges of deception for misusing the Country Members Accommodation Allowance. 

Bell is currently serving at least two-and-a-half years for unrelated previous fraud and theft convictions.

What's next?

Bell will return to court in December for a pre-sentence hearing.

Former South Australian MP Troy Bell, who was previously jailed for serious fraud and theft offences, has now also admitted to pocketing more than $20,000 by misusing a parliamentary travel allowance.

Bell today appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, via video link from custody, and pleaded guilty to 15 charges of deception. 

He was previously charged with a further 37 counts of deception, but those charges were dropped by the prosecution.

Court documents viewed by the ABC state that Bell pocketed $21,177 by misusing the Country Members Accommodation Allowance between January 2015 and September 2019.

Bell had previously strongly denied misusing the allowance.

Last year, the 53-year-old was jailed for at least two-and-a-half years after a District Court jury found him guilty of stealing more than $430,000 in public money while he was employed at the Department for Education between 2009 and 2013.

The money was meant for not-for-profit educational organisations.

The former Liberal-turned-independent member of Mount Gambier stepped down from parliament in August last year after losing an appeal over the jury’s guilty verdict.

He was sentenced two months later to five years in prison, with a non-parole period of two-and-a-half years.

Bell returns to court for a pre-sentence hearing next month.