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Peter Slipper guilty on three counts of dishonesty over Cabcharge vouchers | Peter Slipper guilty on three counts of dishonesty over Cabcharge vouchers |
(about 2 hours later) | |
The former parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper has been found guilty of dishonestly using taxpayer-funded travel vouchers. | |
Slipper had admitted using commonwealth Cabcharge taxi vouchers to pay for trips to wineries outside Canberra in January 2010. | Slipper had admitted using commonwealth Cabcharge taxi vouchers to pay for trips to wineries outside Canberra in January 2010. |
But the former MP denied he acted dishonestly. | But the former MP denied he acted dishonestly. |
The ACT chief magistrate, Lorraine Walker, found Slipper guilty on Monday of three counts of dishonesty. | |
An impassive Slipper sipped from a glass of water as the verdict was delivered. | |
He will be sentenced on 22 September. | |
Slipper's lawyers indicated more evidence might be presented to the court before sentencing. | |
The court had been told Slipper's life had spiralled into despair as a result of the dishonesty charges, and in 2013 he had twice attempted to take his own life. | |
In June, his lawyers argued unsuccessfully for the charges to be dismissed under the Mental Health Act due to his state of mind. | |
On three winery trips Slipper used multiple Cabcharge vouchers to divide the $900 in fares into smaller amounts, using descriptions such as “parliament to suburbs” and “suburbs to suburbs”. | |
The prosecution alleged Slipper knew that he was breaking the rules covering travel entitlements of parliamentarians and that his actions could cause a financial loss to the commonwealth. | |
Walker, in handing down her decision, said it was not unusual for Slipper to fill out multiple cab charges by hand instead of paying electronically. | |
“The issue is what he put in those vouchers,” she said. | |
The suggestion Slipper was visiting suburbs was “implausible” when his real destination was wineries well outside Canberra. | |
“The contents of these vouchers is clearly false,” Walker said. | |
She was satisfied Slipper was dishonest, and there was only one reason he would fill out the Cabcharges incorrectly. | |
“That was to misrepresent what he was actually doing.” |
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