Tepic: Secret email between Rio Tinto and Sefcovic shows deal reached with Vucic

She was commenting on the information she presented on the third day of the parliamentary debate on lithium mining, and added that it is also important to expose the lobbying tactics employed by the Vucic’s administration on behalf of the mining company.

“As a representative of the people… It is my obligation to uncover and disclose the chronology of things. I also saw Rio Tinto’s reaction to my presentation, they said I presented faulty information, which you don’t see in their statement. They confirm everything I said, that they had a meeting with Vucic in 2021, that it was publicly announced, that it is not a secret. I never said it was,” said Tepic.

However, she added, there is a private email private showing there are agreements on lithium mining.

“The key difference is that it was presented as informing Vucic about Rio Tinto's activities, but then, in that secret email that I showed, between Rio Tinto and European Commissioner Sefcovic, Rio Tinto itself says: 'we reached an agreement with Aleksandar Vucic...',” said Tepic, adding that the former government is repeatedly being accused of having made the deal.

“This email between Rio Tinto's director and the European Commissioner is proof that says - we reached an agreement with Vucic on lithium mining,” Tepic emphasized.

She also presented in the parliament information on InoBat, a Slovak company planning to build a battery factory in the Serbian town of Cuprija.

“We're looking at half a billion euros of Serbian taxpayers’ money being funneled into this project as subsidies. This decision was made behind closed doors with Finance Minister Sinisa Mali,” Tepic revealed, adding that Sefcovic had been meeting with InoBat since 2019, a previously unknown fact.

She stressed that her goal was to bring crucial, previously undisclosed information to public attention.

“It is vital to expose the tools the Vucic regime is using to lobby for Rio Tinto,” she said.