British families who have protested in Bansko, Bulgaria, that they were conned out of their properties have been given some hope of a resolution after a formal investigation is to be launched.

Bulgaria ’s Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov is personally coordinating the investigation in conjunction with the Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev.

Tsvetanov said: “This case is generating tension that is unacceptable to us. We need to examine it in detail in order to bring justice and to assure the British citizens that their rights are protected, and they can occupy their property.”

The British group had protested outside the building, the Four Seasons complex in Bansko, where they had purchased their flats because they have been denied access to them for over nine months.

The properties were claimed to have been purchased through the company Rockarch Estates, however Rockarch stated in the Daily Mail that it had been defrauded by a Bulgarian business partner who had access to its accounts and whom it accuses of transferring a number of the flats over to Bulgarian company Zekom.