Supreme Court Zambia Effectively Rejects Claim From The Ventriglia Family

Finsbury Investments under the ownership of Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani took over the ownership of Portland Cement Zambia in the year 2007. This ownership exchange was made through an official shareholders’ agreement which was signed and accepted by all parties in the presence of government officials. As per this official shareholders’ agreement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment received 58 percent shares of the Portland Cement Zambia and was announced as majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. While these activities were occurring, the Ventriglia family engaged in their own coup. Sometime after the Portland Cement Zambia factory started to work well, the Ventriglia family questioned the legality of the shareholding instrument. The objective behind this challenge was to deprive the owner of the factory of its majority shares. This started a court battle which lasted for more than a decade. First it was Lusaka High Court wherein the decision came more than ten years later. Despite this long stretch, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was not given justice as judge Nkonde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal announced Ventriglia family as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani was able to successfully challenge and reverse this misdirected decision at the higher Court of Appeal. Justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal gave his decision on 31st January 2019 and announced Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. Despite this definitive judgement, the Ventriglia family still decided to pursue the Portland Cement Zambia factory. During the final months of 2020, the Ventriglia family challenged the decision from the higher Court of Appeal by appealing to the Supreme Court Zambia. However, a bench of three judges established at the Supreme Court Zambia evaluated this appeal from the Ventriglia family and considered it to be questionable and unviable and hence, was rejected by the Supreme Court.