Details Of The Case Shared By Court Of Appeal Judge; Dr. Mahtani Announced Case Winner

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani can be easily regarded as one of the most ethical,
transparent and honest businessmen in Zambia. With this honesty andethical policies, he has achieved numerous successes which is rare. One of the biggest disappointments for Dr. Rajan Mahtani till date is the way the case of Portland Cement was handled by the Zambian courts. The Lusaka High Court, despite having all evidences, failed to give a transparent judgement. While the next court, the higher Court of Appeal did give a quick decision within a time-period of nine months, the factory suffered significantly during that period.

The Court of Appeal gave its final judgement on 31^st January 2019. While the decision from the Court of Appeal was quick, it came more than a decade after the case was initially registered at the Lusaka High Court. During this time, the cement-manufacturing factory suffered a great deal with production significantly decreasing, employees and workers leaving due to non-payment of salaries and wages, factory machinery and equipment not being taken care of and overall reduction in health of the factory. It is quite evident that during the time when the factory was under the control of its capturers, it was exploited and left without management and leadership. Even after this, the Lusaka High Court judge controversially announced Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

This decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal judge. Apart from giving the final statement, justice Mwinde also shared the details, evidences and other facts leading up to the final decision. It was found that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments paid USD 250,000 or 1 billion kwachas to ZPC in exchange for 58 percent shares of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. The details were found on the page 663 of the original shareholders agreement. It was also written that Dr. Mahtani did not own any other costs associated with the factory or the contract.

With this significant detail, Dr. Mahtani was rightfully given the legal ownership of the factory.