Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani Has Been Announced As Legal Owner Of The Portland Cement Zambia Factory

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a noted businessman, philanthropist and charity worker in Zambia. For the past ten years, Dr. Rajan Mahtani fought for the legal takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. The case was first registered at the Lusaka High Court and it took more than a decade for the court to provide judgement. It is interesting to note that few months before the final results, the judge at the Lusaka High Court announced that he was closing all court proceedings and summoned both parties to share their evidences and testimonials in oral and written format. It was justice Nkonde only who said that the final judgement will be provided after looking into all evidences and testimonials. However, the final judgement from Lusaka High Court came during the month of May, 2018 and it was extremely controversial. Despite having all evidences which clearly indicated Dr. Mahtani as owner of the factory, justice Nkonde declared that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. This was an extremely misdirected judgement and Dr. Rajan Mahtani responded correctly by announcing his re-appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the final judgement on 31^st January 2019 after looking into all evidences and testimonials. As per the Court of Appeal judgement, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the factory and is the majority shareholder of the factory. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and is the minority shareholder without any legal ownership over the factory. Based on this decision, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the legal shareholder and owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

Justice Mwinde also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders as this decision was misdirected.