A CORRUPT Edinburgh council worker who was jailed for taking bribes from a contractor has been hit with a £22,000 bill under proceeds of crime laws.

Charles Owenson, who received cash payments and trips to lap dancing bars in exchange for allocating building repair work, was given six months to pay by a sheriff last week.

Edinburgh council’s former Property Care division used to take the lead in repairing schools, care homes, community centres and cemeteries. But following a whistleblower’s complaint, a national scandal broke amid claims staff had been doling out work to favoured companies.

In 2015, Owenson and James Costello, both of whom worked in Property Care, admitted offences under the 1889 Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act and proceeds of crime charges.

Between 2006 and 2010, the pair helped award contracts to the now-defunct Action Building Contracts Ltd, which turned over more than £4 million a year at its height.

In return, Owenson and Costello were given cash and other perks from Kevin Balmer and Brendan Cantwell, who at the time were directors at the company. The bribes totalled £42,000 and the hospitality was valued at about £30,000.

Owenson, who was sacked by the council in 2011, was jailed for four years and four months, Costello got three years and nine months, while Balmer and Cantwell were imprisoned for over two years each.

It was revealed during the case that about 93 per cent of the invoices issued by ABC Ltd from 2006 to 2010 was for work carried out on behalf of the local authority.

At the time, Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC said the offences were “very grave indeed” adding: “For a period of almost five years you acted together in this unholy alliance stealing from and manipulating the public purse almost at will.”

Sentencing Owenson, 64, he said: “You have displayed not a hint of regret or contrition and appear to consider that the financial benefit you received is a trifling matter and that the whole thing could have been prevented if your line managers had done their job properly.”

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week, a Confiscation Order was granted and Owenson was ordered to pay back £22,000. An application for confiscation is one of the tools available to the Crown under the Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Act 1995.