Portland Cement Zambia is a factory that has suffered several consequences and despite that, it has managed to stay afloat and contribute towards the economic and social development of the Zambian nation. The dispute around Portland Cement Zambia started when the Ventriglia family suddenly questioned the legality of the shareholders’ agreement which established Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement factory. After the dispute created by the Ventriglia family, the Lusaka High Court took more than a decade to announce a final decision and that too was unethical and misdirected. After that, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani appealed to higher Court of Appeal against this misdirected decision. Justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal announced the final verdict on 31st January 2019. According to this verdict, the decision from the Lusaka High Court was unethical and should be reversed. Accordingly, justice Mwinde announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement factory.
After more than 1.5 years of this decision, the Ventriglia family once again challenged the Court of Appeal’s verdict at the Supreme Court Zambia. However, the Supreme Court rejected this claim by the Ventriglia family citing lack of required legal obligations. It was also outside the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Above all, the Supreme Court bench concluded that considering the evidences and other factors, the final verdict from the Supreme Court Zambia would have been similar to that provided by the Higher Court of Appeal on Zambezi Portland Cement. All things considered, the Supreme Court Zambia effectively rejected the appeal from the Ventriglia. This further means that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment will remain the permanent owner and majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory as finalized by higher Court of Appeal in their last verdict.