Drilling contractor Abbot Group will now have to forfeit more than £5million that it earned as profits from a contract that is now linked to irregularities.

The company will now have to give up the profits it earned on a contract agreed in 2006 because the investigators have found certain irregularities in the deal. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has said that the company would have t provide £5.6million to the the Civil Recovery Unit, which alerted the authorities.

The payments would be made following the admission from the company that it benefitted from corrupt payments made on a business deal. Abbot Group said that it benefited from a payment made too an oil and gas firm by one of its subsidiaries following the signing of a contract between the two firms.

A Crown Office spokesman said, "The Abbot Group, which is based in Aberdeen, admitted that it had benefited from corrupt payments made in connection with a contract entered into by one of its overseas subsidiaries and an overseas oil and gas company."

The Aberdeen-based company is now mainly focusing on operating its subsidiary KCA Deutag.