Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani Remains The Majority Shareholder And Legal Owner Of The Portland Cement

The final decision on the bizarre claim by the Ventriglia family is finally out. Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani fought for the legal takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia for more than a decade. First it was Lusaka Hight Court which gave a controversial decision in which the Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. This decision was reversed ay the higher Court of Appeal which came on 31st January 2019. In this verdict, the previous Lusaka High Court decision was reversed and Dr. Mahtani was announced as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. 

After the Ventriglia family once again challenged the higher Court of Appeal’s decision, a bench of three Supreme Court judges was established at the Supreme Court Zambia. These included judge Michael Musonda, Judge Royda Kaoma and Judge Mumba Malila. After evaluation, the Supreme Court bench found that the Ventriglia family failed to comply with a critical legal requirement. According to this legal requirement, all claims against previous court decisions must be made within 14 days of the court verdict. Since the decision on the Portland Cement by higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019, this means the timeline for submitting the claim was by mid of February 2019. However, the Ventriglia family submitted their claim only after 1.5 years of the decision, making their claim suspicious. 

The circumstances surrounding the claim by the Ventriglia family was also controversial as there were no evidences with the Ventriglia family to support their claim. As a result of these evaluation, the Supreme Court bench came to a final conclusion and effectively rejected the claim by the Ventriglia family.

Ventriglia Family Appeals Supreme Court Against Higher Court’s Decision On Portland Cement

The Zambian Supreme Court is the highest authority of the nation and it recently gave a befitting reply to all those questioning the transparency and ethics of the Zambian legal system. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is a noted businessman in Zambia and for more than three decades, Dr. Mahtani worked to establish his business across the nation and also became one of the most transparent, renowned businessman as well as philanthropist in Zambia. At the same time, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani has been facing significant challenges in terms of establishing smooth operations in Zambia. The most apt example has been the case of Zambezi Portland Cement, a cement-manufacturing factory which faced significant challenges in establishing its ownership. 

The cement-manufacturing factory went from court to court and did not get any respite for more than a decade. The first instance was Lusaka High Court where the case dragged for more than a decade. Despite this long pendency, the final verdict from the Lusaka High Court was controversial with the judge announcing Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Portland Cement. After this, the case was taken to the higher Court of Appeal. On 31st January 2019, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal reversed the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced Dr. Mahtani as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. 

After more than 1.5 years of this decision, the Ventriglia family once again established a claim at the Supreme Court Zambia, questioning the decision from the higher Court of Appeal. However, the Supreme Court evaluated this claim and rejected it due to lack of evidences, ensuring that the ownership of Portland Cement remains with Dr. Rajan Mahtani only.