THE head of Cambridge Analytica, the company at the centre of the data scandal, is to be questioned by an SNP MP over claims he “pitched for work” in the run up to the Scottish independence referendum when he appears before a House of Commons committee later this month.

Brendan O’Hara is planning a series of probing questions of Alexander Nix after whistleblower Christopher Wylie, who worked with the company, revealed last month that “meetings took place” to discuss the referendum.

Nix was suspended by Cambridge Analytica after footage emerged of him boasting he could influence the outcome of elections. He is still listed as a company director and he is also a director of parent company SCL Group.

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Wylie claimed CA amassed the data of millions of people without their consent through a personality quiz on Facebook called This is Your Digital Life.

Facebook revealed this week the number of people in the UK whose information may have been improperly shared with CA stood at 1,079,031. The Sunday Herald asked how many of these people were in Scotland but Facebook refused to reveal the figure. “We do not have anything further to share,” said a spokeswoman.

When Christopher Wylie appeared before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee on Tuesday March 27, O’Hara asked him whether CA, SCL or any of the associated companies were involved in the Scottish independence referendum.

Wylie said: “I know that Alexander pitched work in relation to the Scottish referendum, but I am very fuzzy on the details of which side that was for and what the actual pitch was. I was not immediately involved in that. I was there when the referendum was had; I do not recall the company– just to be clear – working on the Scottish referendum.”

O’Hara then asked whether any work was undertaken for either side – Yes Scotland or Better Together – by CA or one of the SCL offshoots. Wylie responded: “I know that meetings took place, but I do not think anything came from that.”

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Nix, who has previously appeared before the DCMS Committee’s "Fake News" inquiry, has been recalled and will appear again on Wednesday April 18 at 2.15pm when O’Hara is expected to ask about Wylie’s claims.

O’Hara told the Sunday Herald: “I’m going to make a point of asking Alexander Nix about his involvement in the independence referendum. I want to know who he spoke to, when he spoke to them, whether anything came of it and, if not, why not.”

He added: “I thought Christopher Wylie was a credible witness with knowledge and detail that was remarkable. I have no reason to believe he didn’t answer my questions truthfully. I’m hopeful I can get more information out of Alexander Nix when he appears before us on Wednesday.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said last week that neither the SNP or Yes Scotland worked with Nix. She said: “We haven’t hired them and to the best of my knowledge didn’t work with them. I heard what he said the other day and I don’t know what he’s referring to there. Obviously if there is any more information that can be brought to light, as you’d expect, I’d be very interested to hear it. But it certainly wasn’t the case that the Yes campaign in the referendum worked with Cambridge Analytica.”

The Sunday Herald also contacted Yes Scotland Chief Executive Blair Jenkins and Chief Strategist Stephen Noon but they did not respond.

Blair McDougall, the former leader of the Better Together campaign against Scottish independence, said he did not work with Nix, SCL or any associated companies.

“No one I’ve spoken to in the senior team has any recollection of ever speaking to these people, even to tell them thanks but we’re already sorted,” he added. “They certainly never pitched to us.

“We had identified the people who helped us with data and analysis in early 2012 and used them all the way through to September 2014. There was no bidding process for this work that they would have been able to pitch as part of it.”

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Former Better Together Communications Director Rob Shorthouse also denied working with Nix or companies he is associated with.

He said: “We certainly didn’t work with them – we had our agencies sorted from early 2012 and stuck with them throughout – nor were they ever in to pitch. If they had made contact with us to talk about working with us, then they would have ended up on my desk and I certainly don't recall anything coming in from them.”

He added: “We used Populus for polling and Blue State Digital for our social and digital media.”

Christopher Wylie and the SCL Group did not respond to our inquiries.