Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani Announced Majority Shareholder And Owner Of Portland Cement Zambia

On 31st January 2019, the Court of Appeal gave the final judgement on the Portland Cement Zambia case. The case was previously pending at the Lusaka High Court for more than a decade. It was Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman, philanthropist and charity worker who first registered the case at the Lusaka High Court. After sharing numerous evidences and testimonials, the final judgement from the Lusaka High Court was announced during the month of May, 2018, almost a decade after the case registration. Justice Nkonde was the judge giving the final announcement on the case. However, the final decision was extremely controversial as justice Nkonde announced that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement.

 

This decision was further countered by Dr. Rajan Mahtani at the Court of Appeal. The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who announced the final decision on 31st January 2019. After looking into the evidences, testimonials and other facts presented before the court, justice Mwinde said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders as this decision was misdirected and against the interests of the public policies. Furthermore, the final decision from the Court of Appeal judge aligned with the original shareholders agreement established in the year 2007. 

According to this final judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement 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. This decision proves the legal ownership of Dr. Mahtani over the Portland Cement Zambia factory.