The events surrounding Portland Cement Zambia present a grim reality of the Zambian economy. The case of Portland Cement Zambia is more than a decade old and was initially registered by noted businessman, philanthropist Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani. Dr. Rajan Mahtani has more than three decades of business experience and achievements in the form of successful business ventures like Finsbury Investments and Mahtani Group of Companies. Despite his transparent and honest nature and ethical business practices, Dr. Rajan Mahtani faces significant challenges in the form of scrupulous entities, unethical practices by government institutions and widespread bribery and corruption, making it difficult to continue his transparent and ethical business practices. Despite these challenges, there have been no instances wherein Dr. Mahtani or any of his business entities have engaged in unethical business practices.
Portland Cement Zambia is a case which has tested Dr. Mahtani’s patience time and again. The case was first registered at the Lusaka High Court after the factory was unethically taken from Dr. Mahtani. Despite sharing damning evidences and testimonials, the judge at the Lusaka High Court gave an extremely controversial judgement and that too after around a decade of waiting and numerous court proceedings. According to this decision, Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. It was evident that this decision was misdirected and as a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal announced its final decision on 31st January 2019. It was a relatively quick decision when compared with the long pendency of the Lusaka High Court. Based on the decision from the Lusaka High Court judge Mwinde, it was confirmed that Dr. Rajan Mahtani was the actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia with 58 percent shares and the Ventriglias were only minority shareholders with 42 percent shares. This decision of the Court of Appeal is final and binding.