Dowling loan for daughter, Nishiki says

WAILUKU - Incoming Council Member Wayne Nishiki provided more details about his personal finances Wednesday as he responded to questions by the county Board of Ethics.

Nishiki told the board he obtained a $100,000 loan from development firm Dowling Co. in 2005 to help his daughter with her business, after she was unable to borrow the money on her own. Previously, Nishiki told The Maui News he approached businessman Everett Dowling for the money because his business, a Honokowai farmer's market, was in financial trouble, and he had been turned down for loans by several banks.

During a break in the meeting on Wednesday, Nishiki's attorney Glenn Kosaka told The Maui News the loan was not for his daughter Kai Nishiki, who was a candidate for the Maui County Council this year, but for another daughter whom he did not identify.

Nishiki said he signed a written agreement with Dowling for the loan but couldn't remember the terms exactly. "I think it was to be repaid in five years," he said, adding that he thought the interest rate was 5 percent.

Nishiki said he didn't provide any collateral for the loan and hadn't made any payments on it yet. He said he didn't remember the terms under which he was supposed to repay the money.

He also told the board the transaction was a personal loan, not a business loan, and his daughter was not a co-signatory.

Nishiki told the board that he used personal savings he keeps in a safe-deposit box to help make the $2,900 monthly payments on a $355,387 mortgage for his condominium at 2895 S. Kihei Road. On his financial disclosure form, Nishiki reported only $18,000 in annual retirement income from being a longtime County Council member, and said his wife was unemployed and had no income - leading some board members to question how he could afford his mortgage.

Nishiki is in the process of getting divorced.

Nishiki also told the board he bought the condominium for a "discounted" price of $125,000 from a woman he described as his girlfriend, and later refinanced the property. While he didn't originally note the discount on his financial report, at the request of the Ethics Board he added it to his report as a gift worth $200,000 - the estimated difference between the value of the apartment and what he paid.

Records on file with the state Bureau of Conveyances indicate Nishiki and his wife, Eun Jung Nishiki, received a $125,000 mortgage from the Maui County Employees Federal Credit Union on Feb. 6, 2007.

The records show Nishiki and his wife bought the apartment on South Kihei Road from Alma O'Hayer on Feb. 7, 2007.

Nishiki and his wife refinanced a $360,000 mortgage on June 6, 2007, according to the records.

* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.