Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani Remains The Legal Owner Of The Portland Cement, Confirms SC

Zambia is a developing nation with several ups and downs in its social and economic scenario. In such situation, it is imperative for the legal system to stand strong and establish a transparent and ethical system for providing justice to all. However, many times the legal system of Zambia have failed to achieve so. One of the prime examples has been the case of Zambezi Portland Cement. The case was registered by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a respected and noted businessman and philanthropist in Zambia. Despite having all evidences and testimonials, the case was influenced by external forces, arguably by criminal activities, political misdoings and undue influence by the Ventriglias. As a result, the Lusaka High Court gave a controversial decision in which Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani was able to challenge this decision at the higher Court of Appeal which gave the decision in his favour by announcing him as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. Despite this critical and confirmatory decision from the higher Court of Appeal which was given after looking into all evidences and testimonials, the Ventriglias were not quite satisfied. It seems like the Ventriglias took more than 15 months to device their plan of disrupting the smooth operations of the Portland Cement by establishing a claim at the Supreme Court Zambia. In their claim, the Ventriglias challenged the very decision from the higher Court of Appeal given around 15 months before. However, their claim was effectively dismissed at the Supreme Court Zambia due to lack of legal precedence and evidentiary confirmations. As such, Dr. Rajan Mahtani remains the rightful owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory.

The Claim By Ventriglias At Supreme Court Gives Positive News To Dr. Rajan Mahtani

The fight for the Portland Cement Zambia case is known to all. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is a noted businessman from Zambia who registered a case at the Lusaka High Court claiming that this factory was unethically taken over. While Dr. Rajan Mahtani had all evidences and testimonials to prove his claims, the Ventriglias managed to influence the case decision with political meddling and corrupt activities. As a result, justice Nkonde from the Lusaka High Court announced that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. After this misdirected decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani quickly approached the higher Court of Appeal which gave its judgement on 31st January 2019. This decision from justice Mwinde on behalf of the Court of Appeal effectively reversed the previous judgement from the Lusaka High Court by declaring Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. 

Despite a definitive decision from the higher Court of Appeal which is among the highest legal institutions in Zambia, the Ventriglias decided to do the impossible by approaching the SUPREME Court Zambia. In their appeal, the Ventriglias claimed that the decision from the higher Court of Appeal was incorrect. They further claimed that the amount which Finsbury Investments requires to transfer is K380 million as against K380,000 as confirmed by higher Court of Appeal judge. A bench of three judges was established at the Supreme Court. It was found that the timeline for submitting claims against previous court cases is 14 days from the judgement. However, the Ventriglias made this claim more than 16 months after the higher Court of Appeal decision. This has automatically scrubbed the claim with Dr. Mahtani remaining the legal owner of Portland Cement.