Posted by By ONUOHA UKEH on
Documents relating to the $537,129 house acquired by Mr. Olumuyiwa Obasanjo, President Olusegun Obasanjo's son, in New York, United States of America, have shown that the said house was not purchased with a mortgage loan.
Documents relating to the $537,129 house acquired by Mr. Olumuyiwa Obasanjo, President Olusegun Obasanjo's son, in New York, United States of America, have shown that the said house was not purchased with a mortgage loan.
This is contrary to claims by the Presidency and the Abebe family, at the weekend, that Olumuyiwa acquired the property with a loan.
A cover page of the document relating to the house Olumuyiwa purchased, located at 705 Carrol Street, unit no. 4L, Brooklyn, New York, filed at the Office of the City Registry, New York City Department of Finance, shows that there was no mortgage loan declared by the President's son. The document, filed on April 1, 2005, has a city register's file number (CRFN): 200500188446.
Under the section on "Fees and Taxes," which talked about mortgage, "Real Property Transfer Tax Filing Fee" and "Real Estate Transfer Tax," no amount was entered in the mortgage column. In the document, "Mortgage Amount" was zero, "Taxable Mortgage Amount" was zero. However, $75.00 was recorded as NYC Real Property Transfer Tax Filing Fee, while $2, 150.00 was recorded as NYS Real Estate Transfer Tax. Also, $62.00 was entered as "Recording Fee."
Daily Sun gathered that New York law stipulates that any mortgage instrument for the purchase of property must be included during the filling of the information with the city register at the New York City Department of Finance. Also, it was gathered that the New York law requires the person obtaining the mortgage to pay 1.8 percent of the mortgage loan as tax to the City of New York. In the Olumuyiwa's house deal, no mortgage was filed, just as there was no tax on mortgage, which would have been $9668.268.
From the document relating to the property, the only mortgage information filed were a "Mortgage Satisfaction" regarding a mortgage instrument supplied by Isaac Erlich, Jordan Beth Levine and Jonathan Ross Erlich (the second party who sold the house to Olumuyiwa) of a mortgage loan made to them on September 27, 2002 from Dimes Saving Bank in New York.
Daily Sun gathered that the said property was sold to Olu G. Obasanjo on September 15, 2004. He paid for the house in full on March 1, 2005. Olumuyiwa's lawyer at the close of the deal was Joseph Slater, with office at 534 Broad Holloway Road, Suite 301, Melville, New York. The Title Company handling the transaction is Phillip Ohara Associates as agents for the Commonwealth Title Company of 140 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, New York.
It would be recalled that after the news about the house deal broke, Dr. Gbenga Obasanjo, President Olusegun Obasanjo's son, said that the house was purchased by his half brother, born by the First Lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo.
Reacting to this revelation, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, said the house was purchased with a loan, decrying what he called "over-sensationalism of a rather private affair of a young man."
Also reacting, Dr. Abebe, Olumuyiwa's uncle, said: "The money he (Olumuyiwa) used in buying this asset was obtained from a loan."
Olumuyiwa Obasanjo is a former law student and allegedly once lived with Andrew Young, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations.