About 20 people are believed to have paid huge sums to former Aberdeenshire hotelier Nigel Andrews as deposits for apartments that he was promising to build in Turkey.

However, they now fear he has vanished with their money without laying a single brick – and have called civil lawyers and the police to investigate.

The 51-year-old left Scotland in 2003 after the Aberdeen nightclub he set up with his brother, Lionel, and a business partner closed down just five months after opening.

The Vaults, in Carnegie Brae, shut owing about £700,000 to creditors – and both Andrews brothers disappeared to Spain.

The Bank of Scotland later lodged a petition calling for the brothers to be made bankrupt.

The duo are believed to have run the Stag Hotel at Banchory for more than a decade before their failed nightclub venture.

Nigel Andrews resurfaced in Marbella, where he set up Royal Resorts Turkey – which said it was building a number of luxury resorts in Turkey.

According to Turkish reports, he and his wife, Margaret, have been selling apartments from offices in Marbella, Spain, and Bodrum, in Turkey.

Turkish media reports said Mr Andrews may have taken up to 1million euros (£870,000) from his alleged victims before disappearing in June.

Doubt has now been cast over whether he even owned the land for his proposed complexes.

Mr Andrews has not been seen since June 5 after it was claimed that Royal Resorts’ flagship project – Paradise Bay, in Akbuk – would never go ahead because building was banned on the land he had earmarked.

By that time, he had already secured deposits from several people, mainly Britons looking for property abroad.

The Manzara Resort in Kusadasi, Turkey, was one of the firm’s biggest projects.

The complex was to have seven blocks and 190 apartments.

It, too, has not been built.

Former pilot Tony May, who lived for nine years at Mill of Leggart on the southern outskirts of Aberdeen before retiring to Malaga in Spain, claims he paid Mr Andrews a £58,000 deposit for one of the Manzara apartments.

He has now reported Mr Andrews to Spanish police, believing he will never see his money again.

The 69-year-old said: “I only found out on Sunday, so it is only just beginning to sink in that I have lost all this money.

“My wife, Andrea, is younger than me and we have a young son, Ralph. This investment was supposed to help support them once I am gone.”

He alleges he had to hand over £58,000 by September last year – 40% of the quoted price for the apartment. The contract drawn up said the final £68,000 would fall due when the project was completed.

The contract includes a guarantee to rent out the property for five years and then a promise to buy the property back for 50% above the amount Mr May had paid.

As part of the deal, Mr Andrew offered to take Mr May’s timeshare in Spain off his hands.

Mr May said it was only when the maintenance bill came in for the timeshare property on Sunday that he suspected something was wrong.

He drove down to the office where he had previously met Mr Andrews in Marbella, only to find that the businessman had packed up and left.

He said that he “trusted” Mr Andrews because of his Aberdeenshire links. He said his last contact with the firm had been in March when he was sent pictures of diggers moving on to the site.

Mr Andrews, formerly of Wellside Wynd at Kingswells, Aberdeen, had Bulgarian number plates on his BMW X5 when they last met face to face, and Mr May now fears that is where he may be hiding.

According to Turkey’s Voices Newspaper, Bodrum-based lawyer Gizem Kostem has been handling inquiries from around the world from people who fear they have lost out.

She said: “We have 15 clients who have been affected by the issues surrounding Royal Resorts Turkey. Most are British, but some are known to come from other parts of Europe.

“We are considering what action to take, an action that is agreeable to everyone. Our joint aim is to track Mr Andrews and his associates, wherever they are in the world, and seek full recompense on behalf of our clients.”

Mr Andrews could not be contacted for comment at his offices in Spain or Turkey.

Both phone lines were dead and all e-mails being sent to his address were bouncing back.