The Final Appeal From Dr. Rajan Mahtani Generated Positive Results, Wins PCZ Case

Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s final appeal regarding the Zambezi Portland Cement case was at the Court of Appeal, the highest civilian court system within Zambia after the Supreme Court. Dr. Rajan Mahtani had to take this step as the final decision from the Lusaka High Court where the case was originally kept was an absolute controversy and waste of time, money as well as patience. The case at the Lusaka High Court went on for more than a decade and despite sharing numerous evidences in his favour, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was not given justice. The judge from the Lusaka High Court declared that Ventriglias were the only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. After this controversial decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani took the case to the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal announced final decision on 31^st January 2019. As per this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, the Ventriglias own 42 percent shares at the factory and are just minority shareholders. As per this shareholding pattern, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the real owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement. While giving this judgement, the Court of Appeal judge also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders without having any proof or evidence. By finalizing that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is a real owner of the cement manufacturing factory, the Court of Appeal effectively reversed the judgement from the Lusaka High Court.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal discarded all forgery allegations by saying that the process of mechanical placement of signatures is a common practice across Zambia and even critical member of the Zambia family involved in similar practice. Furthermore, a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement was been provided by the court during which all share regularization process must be completed.