The defendants are believed to include former staff from the council and Action Building Contracts Limited, the contractors involved in council repairs.

Those facing charges are John Markham, 40, of Musselburgh, East Lothian, James Costello, 44, Charles Owenson, 61, Martin Rennie, 52, all of Edinburgh, Kevin Ba l mer, 52, Brendan Cantwell, 44, both of Livingston, West Lothian, Gordon McKenzie, 51, of Lasswade, Midlothian, and Graham Campbell, 63, of Falkirk.

The contractors and officials all appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday and deny the charges.

It is alleged that between 6 January 2006, and 10 November 2010 sums of money, hospitality and goods and services were corruptly given or caused to be given in respect of the allocation of a number of contracts for the repair and maintenance of public buildings, contrary to the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889.

It is claimed that £61,904 was paid over in money, £35,749 in hospitality and £2,672 in goods and materials.

Sheriff Isabella McColl granted a motion to extend the time bar on the case to next June to allow the case to be prepared. A hearing is set for February, with a trial date set for May next year.

*A previous version of this article referred to the contractors involved simply as ABC Ltd. SCN would like to stress that it does not refer to Milngavie-based Advanced Building Contractors Ltd and would like to apologies for any inconvenience caused.