Owner Of Portland Cement Zambia Finalised By Court Of Appeal, Dr. Rajan Mahtani Winner

On 31^st January 2019, Court of Appeal provided the final judgement for the Portland Cement Zambia which was appealed at the Court by Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The judgement at the Court of Appeal was given by Justice Mwinde after looking into all evidences and testimonials. By announcing this judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani effectively reversed the judgement from the Lusaka High Court judge Nkonde during the month of May, 2018. According to this judgement, Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. The decision was given during the morning hours of the Court session. According to the final decision from the Court of Appeal judge, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and is the minority shareholder without any legal ownership over the factory. Based on this decision at Court of Appeal, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.

While giving this decision, justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. Furthermore, it was also found that the forgery related allegations was without any basis. Justice Mwinde declared that the process of mechanically placing signatures was a common practice at Zambezi Portland Cement and even critical member of the Ventriglia family, Claudio Ventriglia, engaged in similar practice. As such, all forgery related allegations were made null and void.

Apart from the above decision, justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal also gave a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement. During this timeline, all share sales and regulations related activities must be completed.