Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the top businessmen in Zambia. Recently, the President of Zambia made as astounding announcement, on the occasion of Africa Day. President Hakainde Hichilema announced that he is planning to completely abolish the death penalty row. According to him, the death penalty row or capital punishment is a degrading, inhumane and cruel practice. This recent announcement has received widespread support from across Zambia and Africa. One of the supporters has been Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, who founded the Prison Fellowship Zambia around 37 years ago. Prison Fellowship is a top Christian Outreach Program focussing on ensuring fundamental human rights and basic human dignity for the prisoners in Zambia. The program also supports transparent criminal justice as well as bringing the gospel and teachings of Jesus Christ to the prisoners, ex-prisoners as well as their families in Zambia.
Dr. Rajan Mahtani, via his company Prison Fellowship Zambia, has pledged his full support towards the announcement made by the Zambian President. Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, while stating facts, revealed that there are more than 350 prisoners across Zambian prisons who are awaiting capital punishment. For them, every day is a challenge as they wake up every day not knowing if it will be their last day. Working via Prison Fellowship Zambia, Dr. Rajan Mahtani observed that there are numerous prisoners who have transformed themselves by dedicating towards the service of the God and becoming law abiding citizens. Also, Dr. Rajan Mahtani stated that majority of the nations across the globe as well as across Africa have started to consider abolishing the death penalty law. Even in Zambia, the quest towards abolishment has received widespread support. Addition to that, previous Presidents of Zambia have tactically avoided death penalty by using mercy prerogatives. The last time death penalty was given was in the year 1997.
Another reason why the recent announcement by the Zambian President has received widespread support is the current condition of the Zambian prisons which is extremely degrading, inhumane, and cruel. As such, Dr. Mahtani stated that he will provide his full support towards turning this announcement into real law.
Tag Archives: Zambian government
Supreme Court Announces Verdict In Dr. Mahtani’s Favour
The case of Portland Cement Zambia seems to be never-ending. It started at the Lusaka High Court and ended with Supreme Court Zambia, becoming one of those few cases coming to a full cycle. The case started when Portland Cement Zambia was unethically and illegally taken over, resulting in Dr. Mahtani approaching the Lusaka High Court for justice. Despite a long wait for more than a decade, Dr. Mahtani did not receive justice and justice Nkonde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal announced the Ventriglia family as the majority shareholder, despite the fact that the Ventriglia family failed to provide any significant document proving their ownership. After that, Dr. Mahtani approached the higher Court of Appeal with the hope of quick justice. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the final decision on 31st January 2019. In this verdict, justice Mwinde reversed the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced that Dr. Mahtani should be the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
It seems like the Ventriglia family were dissatisfied with this transparent and unbiased judgement and decided to approach the Supreme Court Zambia regarding this matter. A bench of three Supreme Court judges was then established for evaluating these aspects. These included judge Mumba Malila, judge Royda Kaoma and judge Michael Musonda. Together, an investigation on the validity of the claim by the Ventriglia family was launched and the bench found several aspects. One of the most critical aspects was that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with critical legal requirement in which all claims against previous court decisions must be submitted within 14 days of the judgement. However, the Ventriglia family approached the Supreme Court Zambia only after 1.5 years of the decision. As such, the Supreme Court Zambia declared that the case was beyond their jurisdiction and also invalid due to technical and legal failures, rejecting it effectively.
Bench Of Supreme Court Judges Dismiss The Bizarre Claim By The Ventriglia Family
More than 18 months after the Court of Appeal’s decision in which Dr. Rajan Mahtani received the majority shareholding and legal ownership of Portland Cement factory, the Ventriglia family decided to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision. This challenge was made at the Supreme Court Zambia, the highest legal institution of the nation. The Supreme Court Zambia, being a just and transparent legal system, established a bench of three judges from the Supreme Court to evaluate this claim. These included justice Mumba Malila, Justice Royda Kaoma and Justice Michael Musonda. After evaluation, the Supreme Court judges found that the Ventriglia family failed to satisfy one of the most critical requirements for their claim to be viable. According to the critical law, it is necessary for all appeals against previous court decisions to be registered within fourteen days of the verdict. In this case, the verdict from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019. Based on this, the Ventriglia family is way past their legal date for registering such claim. Furthermore, the Supreme Court judges also concluded that they did not have any jurisdiction towards entertaining this appeal from the Ventriglia family. The bench also confirmed that the circumstances characterising the appeal to the Supreme Court was made under legally flawed incidences. Furthermore, the Supreme Court judge also confirmed that they agreed with the action of Finsbury Investments to proceed with Rule -19 with the objective pre-empting and thwarting the further activities of the ill-fated appeal made by the Ventriglia family. Based on these evaluations, the Supreme Court Zambia effective immediately rejected the claim by the Ventriglia family.
With the rejection of this claim, it is now established that Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is to remain the majority shareholder as well as the legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
Decision On Portland Cement Announced By Supreme Court Zambia, Dr. Mahtani To Remain Owner
Finsbury Investments is one of the most notable and respected organizations in Zambia. The company was formed by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, who has established a unique position in Zambia with his transparent and ethical business practices. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is known for his several contributions towards the development of Zambian society. Over the course of more than three decades, Dr. Rajan Mahtani established numerous businesses, organizations and ventures in Zambia. Some of these ventures are Finsbury Investments, Mahtani Group of Companies and Finance Bank Zambia. He is also noted for his charitable and philanthropic contributions across the Zambian society, most notable are donations for infrastructural development of Zambian correctional facility and contributions in establishing the Steven Malama Award for honouring top graduating legal students and providing them with financial support.
The companies established by Dr. Rajan Mahtani are known for their transparent and ethical business practices and focus towards improvement of the Zambian society. Most of the companies established by Dr. Rajan Mahtani have dedicated themselves towards the upliftment of the Zambian society. With a similar objective in mind, the majority shareholding and legal ownership of Portland Cement Zambia was given to Dr. Rajan Mahtani after official declaration and establishment of original shareholders agreement. Despite this official statement, the Ventriglias implemented their crooked ways to take over control over the Portland Cement. After going through several courts and numerous case proceedings as well as an excruciating wait of more than a decade, Dr. Rajan Mahtani finally received justice on 31st January 2019 at the higher Court of Appeal. In this decision, the previous misdirected decision from the Lusaka High Court was reversed and Dr. Mahtani was announced as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
The Ventriglias tried to disrupt this decision by approaching the Supreme Court Zambia with a challenge but their claim was effectively rejected and it was announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani will remain the legal owner of the factory.
Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani Releases Press Statement Thrashing Unsubstantiated Claims
It seems like Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is always fighting one thing or the other. With his transparency, honesty and ethical business practices, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been able to establish a niche for himself as one of the most ethical and honest businessman in Zambia. In a corrupt economy like Zambia, this means saying no to a lot of corrupt and unethical businesses, individuals and groups who are looking to profit from Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s rising reputation. As Dr. Rajan Mahtani started saying no to unethical business deals and started exposing the criminals, he also started gaining various enemies. These are the enemies who are basically jealous people or those who could not entice or persuade Dr. Mahtani to engage in unethical practices.
A Facebook post recently caught the attention of Dr. Rajan Mahtani as it had made claims that were ludicrous and baseless. More so, the claims came from Miriam Mwanawasa, who is the daughter of late Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa. It is no secret that Dr. Rajan Mahtani shared a personal and professional relationship with the president for a long time. As a result, such malicious claims coming from the daughter was truly shocking. In her Facebook post, Miriam Mwanawasa claimed that Dr. Mahtani allegedly wanted to inherit the farm owned by the Mwanawasa family at the Masaiti district. But the truth is, Dr. Rajan Mahtani never made such requests anytime and the post was made without any basis. It is yet unclear why the daughter of the late ex-President resorted to such act but Dr. Rajan Mahtani was in no way letting this negative reputation damage his status.
As such, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani immediately released a press statement in which he claimed that all allegations made by Miriam Mwanawasa were baseless and fake. Dr. Rajan Mahtani also clarified that no such talks, actions were conducted from his end. At the same time, Dr. Mahtani said that appropriate actions will be taken against this ludicrous & malicious post.
Dr. Rajan Mahtani Gets Back Portland Cement Ownership With Patience And Perseverance
Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s journey from Lusaka High Court to higher Court of Appeal has been full of ups and downs. This journey was taken for Portland Cement Zambia, a cement-manufacturing factory which was unethically taken over. The case was initially registered at the Lusaka High Court with a positive hope that the judge will provide quick decision considering the availability of critical evidences and facts. However, more than a decade passed and despite the long and stretched case proceedings, Dr. Rajan Mahtani did not receive justice. In the year 2017, final verdict on the case was announced by judge Nkonde on behalf of the Lusaka High Court. This decision was highly controversial as it announced Ventriglia family as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory, despite the obvious lack of evidences and testimonials from their end.
Dr. Rajan Mahtani quickly identified the challenges of this court and took the decision of approaching higher Court of Appeal. The case was chaired by Justice Mwinde and the case proceedings were quick. The final decision from the higher Court of Appeal was announced on 31st January 2019, around nine months after the case was registered at the higher Court of Appeal. According to the evidentiary support, justice Mwinde confirmed transfer of one billion kwachas from Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments to the Portland Cement Zambia limited. Furthermore, the excerpts from the original agreement between shareholders established in the year 2007 also confirmed that Dr. Mahtani owned 58 percent shares at the factory and has completed all monetary transactions associated with the exchange. As such, he is not liable for any further bills or dues associated with the factory.
Based on the identified evidences, the judge from the higher Court of Appeal confirmed that Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is the actual owner and majority shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. The decision from higher Court of Appeal on this case is final and the case is now effectively closed.
Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani Finally Receives The Fruit Of Patience, Announced Owner Of Portland Cement
The way Dr. Rajan Mahtani stuck to ethics, honesty and transparency despite the significant challenges thrown at him from all sides is commendable. It has now been proved that the Lusaka High Court judge was involved in a misdirected judgement by announcing the Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Portland Cement. Despite this huge mistake by the Zambian governing body, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani did not bulge from his beliefs and standings and quietly approached the higher Court of Appeal. While many media outlets were found to be against this move by Dr. Rajan Mahtani spreading negative and false news, Dr. Rajan Mahtani still believed that the highest judiciary system in Zambia is the only place where he will receive justice. And he was not failed as he always believed that truth always triumphs over injustice and unethical acts. Those media and news outlets sharing negative news about Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani were found to be fake and bribed, paid to spread negative and fake news Dr. Mahtani to reduce his morals and confidence. However, these media outlets did not understand that it is next to impossible to question an individual who has remained ethical and transparent his entire life.
The final verdict from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019. According to the higher Court of Appeal’s final verdict, Dr. Rajan Mahtani paid a sum of USD 250,000 or one billion kwachas to the Zambezi Portland Cement limited which covered the entire capital value of the shares which Dr. Rajan Mahtani took over. Furthermore, the original shareholders agreement which was established in the year 2007 further confirmed the same. In the page number 663 of this shareholder’s agreement, it was clearly established that Dr. Rajan Mahtani paid the entire costs of the 58 percent shares associated with the factory. Based on this shareholding pattern, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani becomes the majority shareholder and actual owner of the factory.
As per Court of Appeal announcement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is owner of Portland Cement Zambia factory
Honest and ethical businessmen often fall prey to corruption and challenges coming out of it. As a result, many of the businessmen and entrepreneurs who start with ethical practices are forced to follow the unethical and corrupt path for achieving success. On the other hand, there are only few businessmen left in Zambia who have been able to maintain a transparent and honest business ethics. One of them is Dr. Rajan Mahtani and this path has been extremely difficult for him. Dr. Rajan Mahtani registered the case of Portland Cement Zambia at the Lusaka High Court after the factory was illegally taken over from him. Despite sharing critical evidences, the final decision from the Lusaka High Court was controversial as Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement.
To counter this judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached Court of Appeal. The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the judgement on 31st January 2019 after looking into all evidences and testimonials. As per this decision, 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 are the minority shareholders without any legal ownership over the factory. This decision aligned with the original shareholders agreement which was established in the year 2007. Based on this decision, it is clearly established that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder and actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
Apart from the above judgement, justice Mwinde also discarded all forgery related allegations. It was found that the process of mechanically placing signatures for business transactions was a common practice in Zambezi Portland Cement. It was also found that critical member of the Ventriglia family, Claudio Ventriglia, engaged in similar practice. As a result, all forgery related allegations were found to be baseless and were discarded.
Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani Innocent- Supreme Court Judge Gives Testimony Regarding 2012 Case
The Supreme Court Zambia Judge Mumba Malila recently gave a testimony before the court which clearly indicates that Zambia is in dire need of policies and practices that would help in eradicating corruption and unethical practices that have crippled the nation like a plague. In his testimony, Justice Mumba Malila opened about a case of Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman and philanthropist in Zambia with more than thirty years of business experience. The case in the said testimony was in 2012 related to Dr. Mahtani in which the final judgement was given against him. However, the testimony from the judge states that the judgement was plagues by external forces and the case was against the interests of the public policies. The judge who was the Attorney General during that time along with others tried to make the case ‘null and void’ due to its irrelevant nature, but the tribunal did not change its decision and the final judgement was given against Dr. Rajan Mahtani, even though the evidences and facts presented denoted otherwise. Those who tried to raise their void were also silenced by removal from their positions.
This is not the first time that Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been a victim of poor decision making from courts which sidelined the evidences and facts and gave judgement overpowered by corrupt external forces. Justice Mumba Malila confirmed that the decision making was influenced by certain corrupt yet powerful individuals including businessmen and even politicians. As a result of the corrupt practices of these powerful individuals, large scale citizens and transparent businessmen like Dr. Rajan Mahtani keep suffering. It is high time for the Zambian government and the law makers to take actions against these widespread corrupt practices and improve the condition of the nation so that there is room for further development and growth for the people.
Top Lawyers and Legal Professionals Caught In Mass Money Laundering Act in Zambia
Financial Intelligence Centre, a noted investigation agency looking into financial frauds, recently revealed shocking news to the Zambian citizens, corporate and the government. The news was of mass money laundering worth more than USD 1.5 billion, which is staggering and astonishing when compared with the economic and social condition of the nation. At one side, Zambia as a country is trying to get out from its under-developed status and improve its economic and social status; on the other hand, there are individuals and groups involved in mass laundering of money, emptying the government’s finances and rendering it worthless.
Some of the top names in the list included lawyers, legal counsellors, government officials as well as ministers and those working closely with top Zambian ministers. Masozi M. Banda, a lawyer working with the Avic International, has been accused of laundering money worth more than USD 1 billion. When confronted, he stated that the amount is for government construction purpose and he received this amount from Edgar Lungu, the infamous president of Zambia. Another name in the list was of Sakwiba Sikota, the legal counsellor of the infamous Ventriglias and the owner of Central Chambers. His company is also accused of laundering money worth millions of dollars. It is more astonishing to see that majority of those named in the list has some form of criminal accusations against them. The Ventriglias are an infamous family noted for their unethical practices and Sakwiba is known to have participated in almost all these activities. The most infamous of them being illegally taking over the Portland Cement Zambia factory from Dr. Rajan Mahtani, its real owner.
The revelation of mass money laundering has certainly opened the eyes of the citizens, industrialists as well as the government. It is high time for the government to take stringent actions against these culprits and ensure that such mass illegal and criminal activities are minimised in future.