Supreme Court Bench Established For Evaluating Claim By Ventriglia Family Announces Its Final Result

On 31^st January 2019, higher Court of Appeal announced its verdict on the Portland Cement Zambia case. This verdict was given in response to the appeal made by Dr. Rajan Mahtani after he was unable to received justice from Lusaka High Court. Dr. Mahtani is a noted businessman in Zambia with more than three decades of business experience and numerous successful businesses under his name. Some of these companies are Finsbury Investments, Mahtani Group of Companies and Finance Bank Zambia. Similarly, his leadership at the Portland Cement Zambia was confirmed by the higher Court of Appeal judgement. Judge Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal rejected the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court in which the Ventriglia family was announced as only shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia.

In the fresh verdict, Justice Mwinde announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. The final shareholding pattern announced by the higher Court of Appeal was 58 percent shares to Finsbury Investments and 42 percent shares to Ital Terrazzo Limited which is owned by the Ventriglia family. While this decision was given after looking into all evidences and testimonials, it was once again questioned and challenged by the higher Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court Zambia. A bench comprising of three Supreme Court judges was established for evaluating this case. It was found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical legal requirement according to which all claims against a previous court decision must be established within 14 days of the decision. However, the Ventriglia family submitted their appeal after more than 1.5 years of the decision from the higher Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court bench also said that the evidences surrounding the claims by the Ventriglia were controversial and as a result, their claim was effectively rejected by the Ventriglia family.