The ticket resale company Viagogo has been accused by MPs of gross discourtesy and evasion after refusing to attend a parliamentary committee for a second time.

Members of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee were due to grill Viagogo on business practices that have made it the subject of political and regulatory scrutiny in recent years.

But the Switzerland-based firm informed the committee at 11pm on Tuesday that its head of business development, Cristopher Miller, would not attend Wednesday’s hearing.

Committee chair Damian Collins said Viagogo's absence was part of a “pattern of evasion, disrespectful to the house and disrespectful to consumers”.

“If you've got nothing to hide, the truth will do you no harm," he said, adding: "If you want to be safe, do not buy tickets from Viagogo.”

In a letter to MPs, Viagogo said its failure to appear was due to “unequivocal legal advice” that the hearing might have an impact on legal proceedings brought by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is taking Viagogo to court over alleged breaches of consumer law.

The CMA said Viagogo had demanded “certain blanket assurances in relation to disclosing this potentially sensitive information, which the CMA did not consider it appropriate to give”.

According to Collins, Viagogo also blamed its absence on its own fraud lawsuit against Ed Sheeran’s promotion company Kilimanjaro Live, launched on the eve of the hearing. In a press release issued on Tuesday, Viagogo accused Kilimanjaro's chief executive Stuart Galbraith, a vocal critic of its practices, of “stealing” from fans by cancelling thousands of Ed Sheeran tickets purchased through the site.

Galbraith described the claims as ludicrous. Speaking at the committee hearing, he added that Viagogo was a “boil” that the music industry needed to lance.

In a statement issued before the evidence session, Collins said: “We do not accept Viagogo’s arguments for failing to appear today. As is usual we would take great care not to discuss issues to do with the future court case.

“Consumers deserve answers to the huge volume of concerns about secondary ticketing abuse. It is hard not to view this 11th hour withdrawal cynically. Viagogo’s non-attendance is a gross discourtesy – the more so given the company’s failure to attend last year.”

Viagogo had also refused to turn up to a previous evidence session in 2017. On this occasion it was to be represented by Miller, a key lieutenant of its publicity shy multimillionaire founder, Eric Baker, who owns the site via his holding company Pugnacious Endeavors, based in the US financial secrecy haven of Delaware.

The location of both Viagogo and Pugnacious Endeavors means that the company’s financial accounts are not available for public viewing. Viagogo has drawn criticism from fans, regulators, the music and sports industries and MPs for a litany of alleged transgressions.

The firm makes money by allowing people to resell event tickets on its platform, taking a commission from both buyer and seller. Its business model has come under fire for helping professional ticket touts, who harvest tickets in bulk at the expense of genuine fans, to sell them on at vast markups.

The CMA announced last week that it was taking legal action against the company following an investigation into alleged breaches of consumer law.