After years of patient wait, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani has been announced as the legal owner and majority shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. While late, this decision was announced at the Court of Appeal after significant turn of events. These events started more than a decade ago when Dr. Mahtani initially registered the case at the Lusaka High Court after claiming that the factory was illegally taken over from him. Despite sharing numerous evidences and testimonials, the final judgment announced by the Lusaka High Court judge was controversial to say the least. This judgment was given by justice Nkonde despite the fact that several strong evidences were submitted before the court. According to this controversial decision, Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement.
It was a known that this judgment from the Lusaka High Court judge was misdirected and as a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was forced to approach the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal is one of the highest level courts in Zambia. Expectations were high from the Court of Appeal and it surely did not disappoint. According to the final decision from justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal, the judgment from Lusaka High Court was effectively reversed. This decision from the Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019. According to this judgment, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and is the minority shareholder without any legal ownership over the factory. The judge also confirmed that this decision aligns with the original shareholders agreement established in 2007. Based on this decision, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the only legal owner of the factory.
