Supreme Court Zambia Announces Its Final Decision On Challenge By The Ventriglias

The Supreme Court Zambia recently gave its final decision on the appeal by the Ventriglias. The Ventriglia family recently made a bizarre decision in which they challenged the verdict of the higher Court of Appeal on the Portland Cement Zambia case. This verdict was given by justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal on 31st January 2019. According to this verdict, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the Portland Cement Zambia factory and is the majority shareholder as well as legal owner of the factory. On the other hand, the Ventriglias’ owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares of the Portland Cement factory and do not have any legal ownership. Furthermore, judge Mwinde also confirmed the amount payable against the majority shares which was K580,000 as against K580 million demanded by the Ventriglias. Thereby, the higher Court of Appeal effectively reversed the decision from the previous court, Lusaka High Court that gave a controversial decision announcing Ventriglias as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. 

It seems like the Ventriglias tried to emulate Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s steps by challenging the higher Court of Appeal’s decision to even a higher court, the Supreme Court.  However, the Ventriglias forgot to look into the legal requirements and further evaluation from the Supreme Court judges identified this violation of law. Any case against previous Court Decision must be made within 14 days of the decision itself. In this case, the Ventriglia family launched their case after more than 1.5 years, automatically leading to rejection of their appeal. With their rejection at the highest legal Court in Zambia, Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s position as owner of Portland Cement has become more definitive.