True Justice Given By Court Of Appeal, Finsbury Investments Announced Majority Shareholder

After around 10 years of wait, Dr. Rajan Mahtani finally received justice from Court of Appeal. This justice came for Portland Cement Zambia, a cement-manufacturing factory which was being contested by parties and dragged forever. The case of Portland Cement Zambia was initially registered at the Lusaka High Court by Dr. Rajan Mahtani. After that, it took more than a decade for the court to announce final decision on the cement manufacturing factory. The final decision was given by Justice Nkonde and it was extremely controversial. According to this judgement, the Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement.

Considering this judgement to be unfair, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was left with no option but to approach the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal announced its final decision nine months after the case was re-registered there. This decision came on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani who owns Finsbury Investments hold 58 percent shares at the factory and is the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement. On the other hand, the Ventriglias who own Ital Terrazzo Limited hold 48 percent share at the Zambezi Portland Cement and are the minority shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory. As per this shareholding pattern, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is clearly the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. Also, this decision was given after looking into all evidences and testimonials provided by all parties and align with the original shareholders agreement which was established in the year 2007.

Furthermore, justice Mwinde who gave the ultimate judgement at the Court of Appeal effectively reversed the judgement from the Lusaka High Court. While giving this judgement, he also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement as this decision was against the interests of the public policies and was without any evidence.