The Zambezi Portland Cement case is over. The company has been finally given to Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani after years of appeal, court proceedings, patience and trust on the legal and judiciary system of Zambia. First it was Lusaka High Court where this case was originally registered. Even though the case dragged in the court for more than a decade, no concrete evidence was shared during that time and despite sharing all evidences and testimonials, judgement was controversial and misdirected.
However, the decision making at the higher Court of Appeal was fast and transparent. The judge at the Court of Appeal, justice Mwinde, shared all details while announcing the case results. It was announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the legal shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. This legal shareholding was traced back to 2007’s original shareholding agreement. In this agreement, it was stated that in the month of July 2005, Finsbury Investments which is the appellant entity in the case had already made a payment of USD 250,000 to the Zambezi Portland Cement limited. This payment equalled 1 billion kwachas and officially covered the entire share capital value of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory which Dr. Rajan Mahtani took over. To further confirm this statement, Justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal confirmed that these details were available in the page number 663 within the volume- Record of Appeal in the original Shareholders’ agreement. With this evidence, it was also confirmed that the Ventriglias held only 42 percent Zambezi Portland Cement shares and were only minority shareholder of the cement factory without ant legal ownership.
This decision clearly stated that Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is the only legal owner of the ZPC factory. This statement from the Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019, during the first half of the court session. While giving this decision, justice Mwinde also said that the judgement given below him was misdirected and condemning it for not giving the right justice.
