Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonyan has filed a defamation lawsuit against MP Aregnaz Manukyan from the opposition Hayastan (Armenia) faction, he said at a parliament sitting on Thursday.

“Over the past three months, Mrs. Manukyan kept using 4 sentences in a text, changing them in places – asphalt, Greece, bookmaker’s office…I don’t remember the last one,” Simonyan said.

He expressed confidence that the court will oblige her to apologize to him for “false accusations”.

Earlier, Manukyan accused Simonyan of self-enrichment at the expense of public funds through EuroAsphalt, a company run by the speaker’s brother, that won state tenders for road construction.