The final decision on Zambezi Portland Cement case was announced by the Court of Appeal on 31st January 2019. This decision puts a final rest to the long-pending Portland Cement Zambia case which has been moving from one court to another without having any transparent and ethical decision. The case was initially registered by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a renowned businessman and philanthropist in Zambia. After registering the case, numerous appeals were made by Dr. Rajan Mahtani to improve the court proceedings and provide justice on time. However, numerous limitations and shortcomings of the Zambian legal system resulted in the long pendency of the case. Finally, the results from the Lusaka High Court came during May, 2018. However, this decision was itself a big controversy as the judge, Justice Nkonde, declared that the Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement.
To counter this judgment, Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal announced its final judgment on 31st January 2019. On this date, Justice Mwinde gave a penultimate decision which effectively reversed the judgment from Lusaka High Court judge. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited is the minority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with only 42 percent shares. This shareholding pattern aligns with the original shareholders agreement established in 2007.
Furthermore, the judge from Court of Appeal discarded all allegations of forgery by considering the allegations as invalid. Also, a timeline of three months from the date of the Court of Appeal judgment was given for completing the share regularization process. Now that the final decision on Portland Cement Zambia has arrived, the next challenge for Dr. Rajan Mahtani is to bring the dwindling cement factory to life.