As per the latest judgment from Court of Appeal, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the majority shareholder and owner of Zambezi Portland Cement. This judgment was provided on 31st January 2019, almost nine months after May, 2018, when the Lusaka High Court provided its final judgement that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland.
The judgement was delivered by Justice Mwinde Siavwapa and was provided on Court of Appeal’s behalf. The judgment lasted for almost 90 minutes and during that time, the final judgment given by Justice Siavwaoa was that misdirected judgement was given by judge below him. The judgement at Lusaka HC was considered against the law and the judge was also condemned for the act. As per the new judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of Zambezi Portland with 58 percent shares. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, own 42 percent shares and are minority shareholders. This latest judgment is also aligned with the original Shareholders Agreement which was established in the year 2007 between the original shareholders.
The Court of Appeal also dismissed all forgery allegations by holding that mechanical placement of signatures on the documents was normal practice across business entities and also Zambezi Portland Cement. In fact, the court also shared details that mechanically placed signatures of Claudio Ventriglia were found on the employment contracts of the staff members recruited by Zambezi Portland. Furthermore, all parties have been given a timeline of three months from judgment date to regularize share sales as per the latest judgement from Court of Appeal.
This judgment is a slow but steady progress from the Zambian government and the law towards a transparent and justified practice, providing justice to those who are consistent in the path of honesty, transparency and ethical standards. Similar practices and transparent in the Zambian government is required now more than ever.