The latest appeal from the Ventriglia family which was placed at the Supreme Court Zambia is a clear indication that the Zambian politics never ceases to amaze. Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the most well-known and respected businessmen in Zambia. He is the founder of several top companies including Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Finance Bank Zambia. Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been fighting for the legal takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia for more than a decade, after the factory was unethically taken over by the Ventriglia. A case was registered at the Lusaka High Court but despite several case proceedings and evidences, the Lusaka High Court judge gave a controversial decision in which Ventriglia family was announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the higher Court of Appeal and received justice on 31st January 2019 when justice Mwinde reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory.
Despite this transparent and ethical decision, the Ventriglia family once again challenged the decision of higher Court of Appeal. This challenge was taken to the Supreme Court Zambia and a bench of three SC judges was established for evaluating the case. During evaluation, the SC bench found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical legal requirement according to which all claims against previous court decisions are to be submitted within 15 days. This clearly violates the legal proceeding and the claim becomes liable for rejection. Furthermore, the Supreme Court bench also found that the circumstances surrounding the claim was controversial and the judges declared that they did not have any jurisdiction in attending this claim by the Ventriglia family. Furthermore, it was also found that the Ventriglia family failed to showcase any evidences or other details pertaining to their claim. Based on these case proceedings, the claim by the Ventriglia family was rejected by Supreme Court.