After months of struggle and years of patient wait, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani finally received judgment that was worth the wait. On 31st January 2019, the judge from the Higher Court of Appeal announced that the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory is Finsbury Investments. This ruling from the Court of Appeal came around nine months after the judgment from the Lusaka High Court which was widely considered as misdirected.
Zambezi Portland Cement factory was being contested for more than ten years by two of the biggest business parties in Zambia. One of them is Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman and philanthropist in Zambia. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is known for his successful business ventures such as Finsbury Investments and Mahtani Group of Companies. The other contenders were the Ventriglias, a noted Italian business family settled in Zambia. The case for legal takeover of Zambezi Portland went on for more than ten years during which several evidences were submitted by Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The judge overseeing the case at the Lusaka High Court where it was contested was Justice Nkonde. On May 2018, the Lusaka High Court judge announced that the Ventriglias were only shareholders. This decision was considered misdirected by many.
As per the latest judgment by the Court of Appeal, Finsbury Investments owned by Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder with 58 percent shares at the Zambezi Portland Cement. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, hold 42 percent share and are the minority shareholders of the factory. This clearly makes Finsbury Investments the legal owner of the factory which is also aligned with the original shareholders agreement established and signed in the year 2007.
All charges of forgery against the appellant were also discarded by the judge. At the same time, a time-frame of three months from the judgment date has been provided for settling the shares.
