Portland Cement Zambia Legal Ownership Given Back To Dr. Rajan Mahtani After Case Was Re-Appealed

On 31st January 2019, the judge at the Court of Appeal gave the final decision for the longstanding Portland Cement Zambia case. The case was taken to Court of Appeal after the Lusaka High Court judge failed to provide judgement despite pending the case of ten years. As per Court of Appeal decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani holds 58 percent shares at the factory and is the majority shareholder of the factory. Ventriglias only hold 42 percent shares and are the minority shareholders. Based on this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is legal owner of the factory. 

By announcing this judgement, justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal effectively reversed the judgement from Lusaka High Court judge. Justice Mwinde also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders as this decision was misdirected and without any evidence. Furthermore, the judge at the Court of Appeal also gave a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement during which all share sales and regulations related activities must be completed. 

During the announcement, justice Mwinde also revealed the allegations of forgery. According to this, the process of mechanically placing signatures for the purpose of business transactions is a common process at Zambezi Portland Cement. It was also found that critical member of the Ventriglias family, Claudio Ventriglia, engaged in similar practice for business transactions. As a result, the allegations of forgery were considered unwarranted and were squashed. 

After the final announcement from the Court of Appeal, several news publications and media outlets cried foul play by the Court of Appeal. However, these publications and media outlets were quickly faded as these were without any evidence or basis.