The Court of Appeal made a significant announcement on 31st January 2019 by giving full ownership of Zambezi Portland Cement to Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The cement factory was contested by Dr. Rajan Mahtani and Ventriglias at the Lusaka High Court for the past ten years. Despite sharing numerous strong evidences and facts, the final decision of the Lusaka High Court judge was that the Ventriglias were only shareholders of Portland Cement Zambia.
However, the decision by the Court of Appeal cleared things on 31st January 2019. The court proceedings took place during the morning hours and took almost 90 minutes to complete. The justice giving the judgment was Mr. Justice Mwinde who said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders. As per the latest judgment by Court of Appeal, Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the Zambezi Portland Cement factory and is the majority shareholder. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, hold 42 percent shares and are the minority shareholders without any ownership over the Portland cement factory. This decision also aligns with original Shareholders Agreement established in 2006.
Furthermore, the Court of Appeal also dismissed all allegations related to forgery by confirming that the process of mechanically placing signatures is common practice across Zambezi Portland Cement and no one can be indicted as even Ventriglias family member Claudio Ventriglia engaged in similar practice for international business transactions. Along with this, several new details were shared by the judge during the proceedings. Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments has also claimed a sum of K1 billion against payment made for entire share capital of Zambezi Portland Cement. The Court has also shared details and proof of the payment made in the year 2005 and 2007 and Dr. Mahtani is very likely to win thus claim soon. The Court has also given a timeline of three months from the date of judgment to complete the process of share regularization.