Dr. Rajan Mahtani has once against showed that with honesty and transparency any roadblock can be overcome. The case pertains to Zambezi Portland Cement, a cement manufacturing factory which was being contested at the Lusaka High Court for more than a decade. The judge from the Court of Appeal, Justice Nkonde, shared his final judgement on the case which shocked everyone. He declared Ventriglias as majority shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement, despite having any evidentiary support. As a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was left with no choice but to approach higher Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal announced its decision on 31st January 2019, effectively reversing the decision from Lusaka High Court. The judgement at the Court of Appeal was given by Justice Mwinde who said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as majority shareholders as the decision was against the law. As per the new decision, Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the Zambezi Portland and is majority shareholder. On the other hand, Ital Terrazzo Limited holds 42 percent shares at the factory as is the minority shareholder with no legal claims over the factory. This decision is also similar to the original shareholders agreement which was established in the year 2007.
At the same time, the court also shared some critical details related to the case. It was revealed that Finsbury Investments paid a sum of K580, 000,000 with interest to the court for completing the process of commercial registration for Zambezi Portland Cement and also in compliance with the decision from the court. At the same time, Finsbury Investments has also claimed a sum of K 1 billion with interest against the payment made for the share capital of Zambezi Portland. The payment have already been validated and confirmed with share transfers issues during January 2007 and December 2006. The judge has further given a timeline of three months from the judgement date to finalise on the share sales and regularization process.
