The directors of disgraced Colombian construction company Nule Group, made 19 visits to the presidential palace, Casa de Nariño, between 2004 and 2007, with one further meeting in 2010.
The cousins Guido, Miguel, and Manuel Nule are currently facing charges of embezzlement by appropriation, fraud, misrepresentation, bribery and conspiracy for their role in the fraudulent awarding of contracts for public works in Bogota.
Between 2004 and 2007, Guido made 12 visits, while Miguel and Manuel completed four and three trips respectively, meeting a variety of high councils and secretaries, although the records do not always state with whom they conducted meetings, RCN Radio reported Monday.
Among the most intriguing recorded visits, however, took place three years after the previous recorded visit, when Miguel Nule visited the president palace on April 22, 2010, for a meeting that lasted over an hour.
The date is significant because it occurred two months after a scandal over a public works contract regarding Calle 26 in Bogota first erupted. Moreover, it was just weeks after a request for the Nule Group’s subsidiary companies to be exempt from bankruptcy law had been denied and after their accounts had been seized by the comptroller.
The Nule Group construction firm have come under intense scrutiny in the last few weeks for supposedly filing for bankruptcy under false pretences in order to sue the Colombian state for $265 million in damages.
The cousins recently arrived in Bogota from their homes in Miami to face their charges.