In the case of Zambezi Portland Cement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani finally received justice when Court of Appeal effectively dismissed the findings from judge Nkonde in behalf of the Lusaka High Court. Earlier, Lusaka High Court judge Nkonde has announced that the shareholding pattern at the Zambezi Portland were fraudulent and the majority shares of the factory remained with the Ventriglias. Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani was able to successfully challenge this appeal at the higher Court of Appeal.
On 31st January 2019, the Court of Appeal gave its final verdict in which it announced that Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is indeed the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. At the same time, Finsbury Investments gave application for embodiment order regarding the shareholding value. After evaluation of this appeal, a verdict was given on 29th March 2019 according to which, the amount payable against the majority shares were confirmed at K580,000 based on re-denomination of the Currency Act- 8, 2012.
It seems like the Ventriglias were unhappy with the factory going to its rightful leader and decided to once again, disrupt the operations of Portland Cement by challenging the Court of Appeal’s decision at the Supreme Court Zambia. The Zambian Supreme Court is the highest legal authority of the nation and as such, the Ventriglias took a huge risk by appealing to this court. However, further evaluation revealed several issues with the claim itself. A bench of three judges was established at the Supreme Court comprising of judge Mumba Malila, Royda Kaoma and Michael Musonda. Together, they came to the conclusion that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical regulatory requirement according to which, any appeal against previous court decisions must be made within two weeks of the court decision itself. The Ventriglia family took more than a year to make this appeal. As such, the SC rejected this appeal by the Ventriglias, ensuring that Dr. Mahtani remains the legal owner of the factory.