<p>Cerberus, the US private equity group that recently&nbsp;<a data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/13/northern-rock-mortgages-13bn-sold-us-private-equity">bought &pound;13bn of former Northern Rock mortgages</a>, has been accused in the Northern Ireland assembly of paying kickbacks to help it win a &pound;1.1bn property assets portfolio.</p> <p>Sinn F&eacute;in&rsquo;s M&aacute;irtin &Oacute; Muilleoir alleged in a finance committee hearing in Stormont on Thursday that Cerberus paid illegal kickbacks to fixers for inside information and introduction to contacts.</p> <p>&ldquo;The allegations are serious enough to warrant investigations,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Rather than being the deal of the century, the Cerberus deal is a corrupt deal. It smells wrong and is wrong.&rdquo;</p> <p>The purchase by Cerberus is the subject of several investigations,&nbsp;<a data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/09/nca-investigate-bribery-claims-biggest-northern-ireland-property-deal">including by the UK&rsquo;s National Crime Agency</a>&nbsp;and the US Department of Justice.</p> <p>The National Assets Management Agency (Nama), the organisation set up by the Irish government after the 2008 financial crash to deal with toxic assets, agreed to the Project Eagle portfolio sale in April 2014, in the biggest deal it has done to clear property, land and developer loans from bailed-out Irish banks.</p>