The opposition has queried the meetings between Petinos and Coronation Property, given a stop-work order had been placed on its Merrylands projects.
Issues relating to Petinos are believed to be referred to in the letter.
On April 8, three days after receiving the draft stop-work proposal, Andy Nahas from MN Builders, the builder attached to his brother Joe’s Coronation site, was emailed the building commissioner’s finalized stop-work notice.
The notice raised problems with the proposed construction’s lack of detail regarding “structural engineering and drainage for the four basement levels” of the Merrylands site which, when completed, would have 790 residential apartments.
The stop-work notice also recorded MN Builders’ claim that it was not aware it was required to provide certain details for the fire safety systems.
On June 2, Petinos met with Coronation representatives. Barilaro was not present at that meeting.
The Merrylands development on Wednesday.Credit:Dean Sewell
On June 21, Petinos’ diary shows she met with Barilaro to celebrate his new job as a trade commissioner to the US. Until recently, Barilaro’s daughter, Domenica, was working in Petinos’ office.
Barilaro said at the time he met up with Petinos to celebrate his new job, he had resigned from his role at Coronation.
“I attended a social engagement with the former minister to celebrate my appointment to the [senior trade and investment commissioner] Americas job,” Barilaro said in a statement. “I was no longer an employee of Coronation.
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“I did not meet with the minister during my time with Coronation.”
The stop-work order was lifted on July 4, 2022.
The political fallout over Barilaro’s US posting led him to give up the position. But before he took up the trade role, the former leader of the NSW Nationals had been asking building industry figures about his new employers. He had been hired by Coronation in February, less than two months after he quit parliament on December 31.
In 2016, Andy Nahas was convicted of assaulting the manager of the Tilbury hotel in Woolloomooloo. A character reference for the court was written for him by prominent lawyer and property investor John Landerer.
Property developer Joe Nahas.
Coronation Property has two directors – Landerer, 74, who made headlines in February after selling his Vaucluse mansion for $62 million, and property developer Joe Nahas.
Landerer has previously told the herald“I have never met or spoken to Mr Barilaro in my life”.
the herald has previously revealed that in October 2012, Joe Nahas, 40, who is also known as Youssef Nahas, listed himself as “unemployed” on his personal insolvency agreement. This allows a debtor to come to an agreement with creditors to settle debts without becoming bankrupt.
In December 2012, three construction companies of which Joe Nahas had been a director went into administration, owing millions of dollars to subcontractors.
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In March 2014, he became a director of Coronation, and two months later, Joe Nahas finalized his obligations to creditors, according to corporate records.
Eight years later, Joe Nahas’ fortunes have changed; his company’s Coronation’s website claims it has “over $5.3 billion in mixed-use projects in the pipeline”.
In 2009, younger brother Andy Nahas, 34, was charged over a kidnapping. Police alleged that between April 15-16, 2009, Andy Nahas and his co-accused of him detained a tradesman without consent with the intention of obtaining a financial advantage.
His co-accused were major bike figures. They can’t be named because they were recently charged with an unrelated murder.
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Andy Nahas’ co-accused (not Nahas) are alleged to have repeatedly bashed the victim with a plank of wood, stomped on his head and told him that bolt cutters would be used “to cut your toes off and send them to your mum” . The alleged kidnap victim suffered significant injuries, including fractured eye sockets, and was hospitalized.
However, the charges were dropped when the court was told that “despite further inquiries being made by police since the last court date, [the alleged victim] has not yet been located. ”
The police were ordered to pay costs, including $33,000, that Andy Nahas had incurred in legal fees.
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