The US Department of Justice last night declined to comment on reports that it was probing Cerberus's £1 billion-plus bulk purchase of Northern Ireland property debt.
Dublin-based commentator and academic Elaine Byrne yesterday told RTE that she understood both the FBI and the US Department of Justice were investigating the deal which last year saw the New York vulture fund buy Nama's northern loan portfolio.
Earlier this month independent TD Mick Wallace claimed in the Dáil that £7m had been transferred to an Isle of Man bank account and was destined for a Northern Ireland politician.
In the wake of the explosive claims, the British National Crime Agency and Garda Siochana launched separate investigations into the £1.3m deal.
The former managing partner at Belfast law firm Tughans was forced to resign from his senior post in January after it emerged that he transferred £7m from the Cerberus deal to an off-shore account.
Former regional CBI head Ian Coulter has since insisted that no politician or any relative of any politician was to receive any money from the deal. Mr Coulter is an associate of Frank Cushnahan, a former banker with close ties to the DUP who sat on the Nama's northern advisory committee.
Nama chairman Frank Daly has since claimed that Mr Cushnahan, who resigned from the advisory committee just weeks before Cerberus completed the purchase of Nama's northern loan book, was set to receive £5 million for his part in the deal.
After Mr Wallace made his allegations, Ms Byrne took on herself to alert the FBI, which she believes can probe the Cerberus deal under the same terms as the law enforcement body recently investigated FIFA.
"Why did I do that? It’s my job," she wrote on her blog, before pointing out that she is a governance consultant for the European Commission, who has written extensively about corruption in the Republic.
Ms Byrne yesterday told RTE that it was her understanding that both the FBI and the Department of Justice were investigating the Cerberus deal.
However, A Nama spokesman said the bad bank was unaware of any investigation, while the Department of Justice and FBI declined to comment.
In addition to the police investigations on both sides of the border, Stormont's Finance and Personnel Committee and the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee are separately examining the issue.
