More than £266,000 will be confiscated from directors of a building firm who bribed Edinburgh City Council officials to secure contracts.

Brendan Cantwell and Kevin Balmer paid cash bribes and took people out for "hospitality" including visits to lap dancing clubs and football matches.

Their firm, Action Building Contracts (ABC), went into liquidation in 2010 and the pair were each jailed for more than two years after the scandal came to light.

The Crown Office has now secured confiscation orders of £171,224 for Cantwell and £95,000 for Balmer.

On Tuesday, Liam Murphy, procurator fiscal for Specialist Casework, said: "Balmer and Cantwell set out to corrupt those who should have been serving the people of Edinburgh and siphoned money from the public purse into their own pockets.

"Both were imprisoned for over two years, and today our detailed forensic assessment of their financial history has ensured that they have also been stripped of all of their assets."

As well as Balmer and Costello, two council officials who were involved in the scam were also jailed.

Charles Owenson and James Costello, who worked in an Edinburgh City Council department which looked after schools, care homes and community centres.

A total of £42,000 was paid in bribes and £30,000 in hospitality was granted.

The pair were subject to confiscation orders totalling around £84,000.

As well as the bribery charges, Balmer defrauded almost £69,000 from the council, while the workers were responsible for laundering more than £42,000.

At its height, ABC turned over more than £4m and employed more than 70 people.

In return for the bribes, the council officials would allocate building contracts to the firm.