RUTH Davidson has confirmed the former Tory candidate at the heart of a ‘dark money’ row over Brexit remains a member of her party.

However Richard Cook, a former vice chair of the Scottish Tories, “holds no office”, she said.

Mr Cook was linked to the donation of £425,000 to Northern Ireland’s DUP on the eve of the EU referendum, which the pro-Leave party then spend on the UK mainland.

READ MORE: David Mundell's election campaign financed by Tory 'dark money' fund

At the time, he was the chair of the shadowy Constitutional Research Council, which was the official donor of the money, but whose sources of income remain unknown.

The Electoral Commission recently ruled there was insufficient evidence to investigate claims the money was used to get around legal spending limits on the Leave side.

The Scottish Tory leader said: “She said: "This donation isn't linked to the Scottish party, it wasn't given to the Scottish party. It was given to another political party in another country to fight a referendum on the side that the Scottish Conservative leader was fighting against.”

Speaking to the BBC after one of its broadcasters complained she had ducked interview requests for weeks, Ms Davidson also denied taking funds from another controversial door.

READ MORE: Scot linked to Brexit 'dark money' donation faces call to give evidence to Westminster committee

The Scottish Unionist Association Trust (SUAT) has given almost £330,000 to various Tory branches and candidates north of the border since 2001, and helped pay for an election agent for Scottish Secretary David Mundell at the last two general elections.

However the 50-year-old organisation has never published accounts or detailed the source of its income beyond saying it comes “comes from the proceeds of the sale of Scottish Conservative properties in Scotland in the 1960s”.

The opaque nature of the SUAT has led to SNP claims that it is involved in so-called ‘dark money’ donations, meaning untraceable political funds.

Ms Davidson said there was “utter transparency" about where the trust’s money came from.

READ MORE: Scots Tory in DUP 'dark money' row instructs lawyers over BBC documentary

The Edinburgh Central MSP said “almost all” Scottish Conservative candidates would have benefitted from the SUAT, but she had “absolutely not” taken money from it to part-fund a campaign manager as Mr Mundell and others had.