More than a decade after registering the case of Portland Cement Zambia, final results have been announced. This announcement was made by Court of Appeal on 31st January 2019. Justice Mwinde gave the judgement on behalf of the Court of Appeal after looking into all evidences and testimonials. As per this judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory as his company, Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the factory. At the same time, it was also announced that Ventriglias were the minority shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement as their entity, Ital Terrazzo Limited, held only about 42 percent shares at the factory. As such, it was clearly established that the Ventriglias did not have any legal ownership over the factory. This decision also aligned with the original shareholders agreement which was established in the year 2007.
It is clear that this decision from the Court of Appeal sharply contrasts with the original decision given at the Lusaka High Court which considered Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. It must be noted here that initially, Dr. Mahtani had registered this case at the Lusaka High Court only. Despite having shared numerous evidences, testimonials and facts, the judge at the Lusaka High Court failed to provide any concrete judgement. Despite waiting for more than a decade, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was denied justice at the hand of Lusaka High Court which finally prompted him to approach the Court of Appeal.
Apart from giving the quick decision on the case, the judge from the Court of Appeal also cleared air on the forgery allegations by announcing them to be invalid. Further, the Lusaka High Court judge, justice Nkonde was condemned for giving a misdirected judgement without considering the facts and evidences. The judgement by the Court of Appeal is by far, binding and final.
