The Haskovo District Court increased the bail of Nikolay Perchemliev to 50,000 leva due to the gravity of the accusation in the case of the illegal cigarette factory, broken up a month ago in the Svilengrad village of Momkovo.
The court also set a bail of 40,000 leva for another accused - Hristo Motov. The decision is final.
In court, Perchemliev stated that he himself built the premises under the cow farm, which were originally intended for a manure storage, without knowing that they were later converted into a factory. He is a co-owner of the farm with his father, and his wife also works there.
Under the legal cow farm, machines and over 102 million pieces of cigarettes worth about 30 million leva were found in the basement. According to investigators, the factory has been operating for 2-3 years. The other defendants - Dimitar and Rositsa Perchemliev, are free on bail of 6,000 leva each.
Nikolai Perchemliev was declared a state-wide wanted man, after which he surrendered himself. He had been in Greece, from where he returned and was hospitalized. According to the prosecutor's office, Motov is also involved in the illegal activity, but his defense claims that there is no evidence of direct participation. Both defendants have a clean criminal record.