Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani Moves To Higher Court Of Appeal For Justice In The Portland Cement Case

The case of Portland Cement Zambia came to an end on 31st January 2019. However, this end was not without significant roadblocks. In his entire business career, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has maintained an ethical and transparent business path. Dr. Rajan Mahtani, during his early business ventures, also exposed several unethical businesses in Zambia and as a result made several enemies. However, it can be said that the biggest enemy for Dr. Mahtani has been the legal system of Zambia which failed to give justice to his decade long patience, perseverance and trust in the Zambian legal system. More than a decade ago, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani had registered a case at the Lusaka High Court wherein he claimed that his factory, Portland Cement Zambia was unethically taken over. The case took more than a decade to come to its conclusion and despite the majority of the evidences indicating that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the actual owner, the judge at the Lusaka High Court failed to gave justice and declared Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia.

Despite this misdirected verdict, Dr. Rajan Mahtani re-appealed to the higher Court of Appeal as it was his last hope. This time, the judgement was quick and the final decision was given by the Court of Appeal on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, it was declared that Dr. Rajan Mahtani has made an official payment of one billion kwachas via his company Finsbury Investments in the year 2005. This payment was made for covering the entire value of the share capital which Dr. Rajan Mahtani took over from the Portland Cement Zambia limited. Furthermore, this payment was officially recorded in the original shareholders’ agreement confirming that Dr. Mahtani owned 58 percent shares of the Portland Cement, thus becoming its majority shareholder. As such, he was declared as the actual owner of the Portland Cement by higher Court of Appeal.