A SHOCKING scandal has emerged involving the ‘sell-off’ of British investors’ apartments in Altinkum without their knowledge, Voices can reveal today.

We reported two weeks ago how 12 apartments ‘bought’ by British families had been seized from debt-riddled developer Altan Çetin, who had been sunk by loans of over £200,000, and were to be auctioned off on September 7.

Now Voices can reveal that SIX of the apartments at Safir apartments, at Selanik Caddessi, Sokak 881, in Yeni Mahalle, were sold off on Friday July 17 in Aydin - at less than their true market value.

The apartments, valued each at about 55,000 TL (£22,000) were in fact sold to Istanbul-based company Horasan Ltd at a snip for just 23,000 TL (£9,200) each. This in stark contrast to investors shelling out between £21, 000 and £40,000 for the apartments four years ago.

The auction sale was on behalf of the Social Security Organization for the Self-Employed, an arm of the government Department of Social Security.

But crucially NONE of the British residents were aware of the auction as they had not been issued with Tapus so legally had no claims on the apartments that they had bought in good faith.

And in a further bitter twist, they should have been given 15 days from the date of the auction to move their furniture out of the apartments – otherwise they will be seized and sold on.

But it is likely, that as the tapus were held by Çetin, he would have received the notifications of the need to move furniture out – but he is in prison on remand for fraud.

The scandal could yet be the tip of the iceberg as many other British investors are still waiting for their tapus to be issued a few years after they have bought property. They could also be engulfed by other developers defaulting on loans illegally placed on the properties, causing creditors, such as banks, government ministries and loan sharks to step in, and cause further heartache and reclaim the apartments as assets.

Now other investors, including Pam and Ian Burrell, of Worthing, west Sussex, are desperately waiting confirmation as to whether the other six remaining apartments were sold off without their knowledge.

The Burrells bought their property off plan in April 2004 with them handing over a total of £35,000 on completion in March, the following year. Estate agent Blue Sea Real Estate acted as agent for the builder for the application of title deeds but these never materialized.

Their four year wait rapidly turned to a nightmare when they discovered that creditors have jumped in to recoup Cetin’s debts by ‘seizing’ the 12 apartments for them to be auctioned off.

One victim, Margaret MacDonald, told Voices: “I am one of the families who have lost their apartments at Safir. I am gutted and I don't think I'll ever be back.

“I think I have been the most optimistic of all the owners in having faith in the powers that be.

“I even now hold no grudge against the builder who made these very stupid decisions that put us all in this terrible position. I blame a system that enabled him to do it. I feel that my contract wasn’t even considered so it wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.”

Another angry ‘buyer’, who wished remain anonymous, said: “This is daylight robbery. We have had great holidays in the apartments but now we have lost them, our money and our furniture.

“How it can come to this is a shocking scandal. The Turkish authorities should take note and prevent other buyers falling into the same trap.”