Supreme Court Rests The Case Of Portland Cement Along With Claim By Ventriglias

The Supreme Court Zambia recently put an end to the case of Portland Cement Zambia. This claim was brought up to Supreme Court Zambia by the Ventriglia family with claims that the decision from the higher Court of Appeal was wrong. On 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal reversed the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the ultimate owner of the Portland Cement Zambia. Now the Ventriglia family challenged this decision at the Supreme Court. At the same time, the Ventriglia family also claimed that the actual amount against majority shares will be K580 million and not K580,000 as finalised by the higher Court of Appeal.

To evaluate the validity of this claim, a bench of three Supreme Court judges was established. These included judge Royda Kaoma, Judge Michael Musonda and Judge Mumba Malila. Together, the judges shed light to various attributes associated with the case in a transparent manner. One of the most critical aspects associated with the case was the timeline of the claim. As per the law, all claims against previous court decisions are required to submitted within 14 days of the court decision itself. Since the higher Court of Appeal’s decision on Portland Cement came on 31st January 2019, the Ventriglias’ claim would have been valid only when it was submitted without 14 days. However, the Ventriglia family submitted their claim only after 1.5 years. The Supreme Court bench therefore, came to the conclusion that the claim was beyond their jurisdiction as well as technically invalid. As such, it was effectively rejected by the Supreme Court