Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that former City of Edinburgh Council employees Charles Owenson and James Costello were given hospitality by Kevin Balmer and Brendan Cantwell from Action Building Contracts (ABC) Limited, including corporate seats at Hibs and Hearts football grounds, meals and bar crawls.

The contractors even submitted inflated invoices to the value of more than £67,000 to the local authority for work carried out to cover the costs of the bribes they were paying council officials.

Procurator-fiscal Keith O’Mahony told Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday: “This case concerns the corruption of City of Edinburgh council officials by contractors who have given the council officials bribes being cash payments and hospitality in exchange for being allocated maintenance and repair contracts.

“It also concerns a fraudulent scheme whereby contractors have falsely inflated the invoices they submitted to the council following completion of work in order to cover the costs of the bribes they were paying to council officials.”

He added: “There were corporate seats at football matches with free drinks during and after the game, meals and nights out at bars with drinks paid for and visits to lap-dance bars. Drinks and lap-dances were provided. Costello took advantage of this, and he used to brag.”

Costello – who admitted pocketing £14,134 in cash and rewards – splashed out on three cars: an Audi TT Quattro, Toyota Corolla and a Jeep Cherokee.

The court heard yesterday that Costello, 44, of Crosswood Crescent, Balerno, would “not have been able to sustain that lifestyle” on a modest council salary while raising a family.

Owenson, who admitted receiving £28,387 as a reward for influencing council contracts at an earlier court hearing, attempted to conceal the cash by buying a Mercedes LL320 and a Peugeot 207.

The 62-year-old, of Drum Brae Neuk, was also found to have put “unexplained funds” into bank accounts in both his and his wife’s names.

Costello, who had worked at the city council since 1991, also made “large cash deposits” to his bank account which could not be explained by any income.

Earlier in the week, the four men pled guilty for corruption. Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC ordered reports and the men were released on bail until sentencing next month.