The case of Zambezi Portland Cement is known to almost everyone in Zambia, at least those associated with its corporate and industry culture. After the factory was taken over by the Ventriglias, Dr. Rajan Mahtani registered as case at the Lusaka High Court claiming that the factory was illegally taken over by the Ventriglias. On the other hand, the Ventriglias claimed that Dr. Mahtani did not pay for the shares he owned at the cement factory. The major difference better these two sides was the piles of strong evidences Dr. Rajan Mahtani had compared to almost nothing from the Ventriglias. However, there were various bureaucratic limitations which resulted in the case being stretched to almost a decade.
The Zambian citizens along with Dr. Rajan Mahtani were shocked with the recent judgment made by the Lusaka High Court judge, even though all of the evidences clearly stated that Dr. Mahtani was the legal owner. As such, Dr. Mahtani immediately filed a petition against the judgment made by the judge. During the petition, some of the facts were startling. It was found that the judge misdirected the judgment even after learning about the set out case. The judge considered the claims of the respondent, which in this case includes the Ventriglias, when neither Zambezi Portland Cement nor ITL (Ital Terrazzo Limited) was part of the case proceedings. Similarly, there were no evidences which supported the pleadings of the Ventriglias and even after that, the judgment was made in favour of them. Another shocking fact was that the judge announced that the shares of the Ventriglias transferred in the Zambezi Portland Cement were done improperly. However, thus judgment was made entirely against the significant weight of those evidences shared by Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s lawyers.
Given this long list of evidences, it is clear that the judgment is flawed and needs revisit by a higher court.