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Dr. Mahtani & Zambia

Ventriglias challenge the decision from the higher Court of Appeal, rejected by Supreme Court

According to the latest decision from the Supreme Court Zambia, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. The case of Portland Cement Zambia is peculiar as it has been approached to almost all levels of judiciary system in Zambia. Portland Cement Zambia factory was established in the year 2004 and in 2006, a series of verified and legal shareholding changes made Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

However, things took a tumultuous turn when the Ventriglias took over the factory via unethical means. This promoted Dr. Rajan Mahtani to approach the Lusaka High Court. The judge at the Lusaka High Court was justice Nkonde and despite sharing all relevant evidences and testimonials, the judge gave a controversial decision in which the Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement. However, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was quick to approach the higher Court of Appeal and after around nine months of case proceedings, justice Mwinde on behalf of the Court of Appeal announced his decision on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory with 58 percent shared and Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds juts 42 percent shares over the factory without any legal ownership. The decision also confirmed that the actual amount to be paid by Finsbury Investments against the majority shares owned is K580,000 and not K580 million.

However, it seems like the Ventriglias decided to try their luck one more time by approaching the higher Court of Appeal. In their appeal, the Ventriglias challenged the decision from the higher Court of Appeal. A bench comprising of three judges was established by the Supreme Court of Zambia for reviewing the validity of the appeal. After the review, the appeal was rejected on legal grounds and circumstantial evidences. As such, Dr. Rajan Mahtani remains the only owner of the Portland Cement factory.