After the final announcement by Court of Appeal on Portland Cement Zambia, the reality associated with the case has been cleared out. The Court of Appeal gave its final and binding decision on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is found to be the actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. His company, Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent stake at the factory and is the majority shareholder. This makes Dr. Rajan Mahtani the direct owner of the factory. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, hold only 42 percent shares via their company Ital Terrazzo Limited. It is also important to note here that the decision from the Court of Appeal aligns with the original shareholders agreement, established in 2007. The judge giving the decisions on behalf of the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde, and he also said that the judge below him was wrong when he declared Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia.
Unlike the Lusaka High Court decision which took more than a decade to make a controversial decision, the decision from the Court of Appeal was quick, thorough and binding. The Court of Appeal judge also took on the allegations of forgery. Justice Mwinde on behalf of the Court of Appeal made the announcement that forgery allegations were fake and cannot be processed further. It was identified that mechanical placement of signatures for business transactions was common practice in Zambezi Portland Cement. It was also found that Ventriglia family member, Claudio Ventriglia, engaged in similar practices. As such, the judge declared all these allegations to be invalid.
A case was further launched by Finsbury Investments on behalf of Dr. Rajan Mahtani regarding the claim of K1 billion against the entire share capital purchased for the majority stockholding of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. This claim has been further confirmed by the Court of Appeal and decision is awaited.