The case of Portland Cement Zambia has been going on for years. It is the cement manufacturing factory in Zambia for which Dr. Rajan Mahtani registered a case at the Lusaka High Court almost 10 years back. However, several limitations and shortcomings of the court as well as the government resulted in the case stretching for almost a decade.
The latest judge handling the Portland Cement Zambia case was Mr. Nkonde. He previously made an announcement that the case hearing was closed and both parties were asked to submit their evidences in written and oral format. After evaluating these evidences, the judge was to announce final verdict. However, the final verdict which was announced few weeks earlier was a shocking and outrageous move by the judge. It was found that the judge disregarded all evidences and critical documents associated with the case and made the judgement without considering them. The judgement was against Dr. Rajan Mahtani, even though his team had submitted strong evidences such as signed shareholder’s agreement, financial exhibits, and testimonials from the company shareholders as well as independent audit reports which clearly stated that Dr. Rajan Mahtani was the sole joint venture partner. All these evidences were ignored and it clearly indicates that the judgment was skewed. The sitting judge disregarded majority of the evidences and the claims of the respondents were given authorization without having any evidence. This clearly indicated that the verdict was misinformed and the judge used his power to make a verdict which does not comply with the ethical standards of law and government.
Dr. Rajan Mahtani quick filed a motion against the verdict by Lusaka High Court judge by applying to the higher court regarding the unfair judgment made. He has shared all the details of the judgement and is awaiting reply from the higher court.