Dr. Mahtani Wins Major Case At The Court of Appeal, Announced Owner Of Zambezi Portland Cement

The legal and judicial system of any nation holds an important place as they are the building blocks for the nation’s strength. Apart from the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal is another national court which makes decisions coming from district level courts. Therefore, any decision from the Court of Appeal holds critical value for the nation. A similar decision was given by the Court of Appeal on 31^st January 2019 wherein, it was decided that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investment is the majority shareholder of Zambezi Portland Cement.

This decision effectively reversed the judgment from Lusaka High Court judge on May 2018 which concluded that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. However, this decision was condemned heavily as the decision was made without sufficient facts, evidence or testimonials. The judge at the Lusaka High Court was also considered wrong for sharing this wrongful judgment. As per the details from the Court of Appeal, Finsbury Investments hold 58 percent shares at the Lusaka High Court and is majority shareholder and the Ventriglias hold 42 percent shares and are minority shareholders of the factory. This automatically gives the ownership over the factory to Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The judgment at the Court of Appeal was given by Justice Mwinde who also said that this final decision is in line with the original Shareholders Agreement established between the parties in 2007.

All allegations of forgery against Dr. Mahtani and his companies have been discarded and announced baseless. Furthermore, the judge from the Court of Appeal has given a timeline of three months for both parties to complete the sales process.