Supreme Court Zambia Finalises The Outcome On The Challenge By Ventriglias Over Portland Cement

Dr. Rajan Mahtani is a known businessman in Zambia, popular for his business acumen as well as charitable and philanthropic practices. He is also known for his transparent, ethical and straightforward business practices which is very rare across the nation. One of the biggest examples of this transparency has been Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s dedicated fight for the takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. The Portland Cement Zambia factory was taken over from Dr. Rajan Mahtani more than a decade ago and since then, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been trying to get back control over the factory. When Dr. Rajan Mahtani registered a case at the Lusaka High Court, an easy win was expected considering the significant evidences and testimonials from Dr. Rajan Mahtani proving his legal ownership over the factory. However, the unethical means and power politics from the Ventriglias was underestimated and Dr. Rajan Mahtani ended up losing that legal battle with justice Nkonde announcing Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani did not lose hope and registered an appeal at the higher Court of Appeal challenging the misdirected decision from the Lusaka High Court. Justice at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde and he announced his final judgement on the case on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the Portland Cement factory and is the majority shareholder as well as legal owner of the factory. Even though this decision was vetted in all means, the Ventriglias decided to disrupt the operations of Portland Cement once again by challenging the higher Court of Appeal decision at the Supreme Court Zambia. However, this challenge was short lived as a group of three judges panel from the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by the Ventriglias due to lack of evidences and legal qualification from the Ventriglias.