‘We can trap pollies’

Election fixing allegations screened in UK television probe

CAMBRIDGE Analytica was hit by further scandal yesterday after senior executives were filmed undercover claiming they could entrap politicians and used ex-spies to dig dirt on them.

The footage shows chief executive Alexander Nix bragging that the UK firm secretly campaigns in elections worldwide. It raises further questions over CA’s practices following allegations it harvested personal details from more than 50 million Facebook accounts.

A whistleblower claimed the firm used the data to build software to predict and influence voting, particularly in the run-up to the 2016 US election.

At a filmed meeting, Mr Nix appears to suggest CA could compromise politicians by sending beautiful Ukrainian sex workers to candidates’ houses.

Discussing CA’s “effective” election tactics, he says they could film themselves posing as wealthy developers and encourage a politician to accept a bribe then put the footage on the internet.

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she would apply for a search warrant against CA as it had been “uncooperative”. The apparent admissions were shown in a Channel 4 investigation in which an undercover reporter posed as a fixer for a wealthy client hoping to get candidates elected in Sri Lanka.

From November 2017 to January 2018, they filmed meetings with Mr Nix, CA Political Global’s Mark Turnbull, and chief data officer Dr Alex Tayler.

Mr Nix says they could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.

CA told Channel 4: “We entirely refute any allegation that CA or any of its affiliates use entrapment, bribes or so-called honeytraps … CA does not use untrue material for any purpose.”