Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a noted businessman in Zambia. For more than a decade, he fought for the legal ownership of Portland Cement Zambia, a noted cement-manufacturing factory. The initial court where the case was registered was Lusaka High Court. Despite having almost all evidences and testimonials, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was not given respite as the judgement remained pending for a long time. After more than ten years of long proceedings, justice Nkonde gave the final judgement on the case. However, this judgement was misdirected as it concluded that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement.
After this misdirected judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal is among the highest judiciary system in Zambia and it certainly did not disappoint. The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the final decision on 31st January 2019. This decision was given after looking into all evidences, testimonials and other facts submitted to the court. Interestingly, all these evidences and testimonials were previously submitted at the Lusaka High Court but the judge ignored majority of it. After looking into all evidences, justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and is the minority shareholder without any legal ownership over the factory. Justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal also said that this decision aligned with the original shareholders agreement established in the year 2007.
Based on this decision from the Court of Appeal judge, it has been established that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the actual and legal shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement.