Supreme Court Decision On Ventriglia’s Appeal Out, Challenge Rejected Outright

With more than three decades of experience, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has established a respectable name for himself. His companies such as Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Portland Cement Zambia have earned their name as among the most transparent and ethical businesses in Zambia. In a similar manner, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has also made his name as a top-level philanthropist and charity worker in Zambia. Despite these significant achievements, Dr. Rajan Mahtani continues to face significant challenges in terms of his business operations. One of the biggest challenges have come from the Ventriglia, the notorious Italian family known for their unethical and often illegal practices in Zambia. The Ventriglia can be attributed to the ongoing crisis faced by the Portland Cement Zambia. Time and again, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has established that he is the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. Despite this, political meddling and power grabs from the Ventriglia family has resulted in case of Portland Cement Zambia juggling from one case to another.

First it was the Lusaka High Court wherein a controversial decision was given declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. It is now a known fact that the decision was influenced by political meddling and power politics. Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the higher Court of Appeal wherein justice Mwinde gave a transparent and quick decision on 31st January 2019. In this decision, justice Mwinde reversed the decision from the Lusaka High Court and announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani indeed is the majority shareholder of the factory with 58 percent shares and thus the legal owner of the factory.

After more than 20 months of this decision, the Ventriglias tried their luck by challenging this decision at the Supreme Court Zambia. However, this challenge was rejected outright by the Supreme Court Zambia who declared that Dr. Rajan Mahtani will remain the legal owner of the factory.

Supreme Court Zambia Effectively Tosses Out Claim By Ventriglias, Dr. Mahtani Retains Ownership Of Portland Cement

The business of the Portland Cement Zambia can be easily described as sustained episode comprising blatant arbitrariness and criminality. However, it seems like that episode is over and Portland Cement Zambia can finally conduct its operations in peace. For a very long time, the Ventriglias family and noted businessman Dr. Rajan Mahtani have been fighting for the legal takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. Now it is also known that it was the Ventriglias that tried several times to illegally deprive the Finsbury Investments of the 58 percent shares in the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

The Ventriglias first tried to takeover the ownership of the factory after illegally taking control over the factory. Dr. Rajan Mahtani went through legal channels to gain justice but was defeated by misdirected decision and influenced judgement. Then he approached the higher Court of Appeal which is known for its transparent practices. Thankfully, justice was received here on 31st January 2019 when justice Mwinde announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the actual owner of the factory with 58 percent shares, which also makes it the majority shareholder.

More than a year after the above decision by higher Court of Appeal, the Ventriglias have now tried their hands by approaching the Supreme Court Zambia. In their appeal, the Ventriglias claimed that the decision from the higher Court of Appeal was unethical and wrong. To evaluate this appeal, a bench comprising of three Supreme Court judges was established. After evaluation, the judges confirmed that they cannot accept the case on several grounds. The first major ground is that any appeal against a previous court decision must be presented with 14 days of final judgement from the previous court. However, the Ventriglias have approached this case more than 1.5 years after the decision by higher Court of Appeal which was made on 31st January 2019. Furthermore, the judges also declared that after looking into the documents, their decision would be similar to higher Court of Appeal.

Ownership Of Portland Cement Zambia Remains Same After Appeal From Ventriglias Rejected

corruption all around, have remained one of the most respected businessmen in Zambia with transparent business practices. His principles and values are observed across his companies such as Finsbury Investments, Mahtani Group of Companies. Recently, a decision on the Zambezi Portland Cement by the Ventriglias further proved how Dr. Rajan Mahtani is continuously trying to stay afloat in a sea of criminals, wrongdoers and unethical businessmen.

After the misdirected judgement from the Lusaka High Court where Ventriglias were unethically announced the only majority shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia factory, Dr. Rajan Mahtani had appealed to the higher Court of Appeal. The final decision from the higher Court of Appeal indicated that Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments held 58 percent shares at the factory and were majority shareholders and legal owner of the factory. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, held only 42 percent shares via their company Ital Terrazzo Limited.

The Ventriglias family have now appealed against this judgement from the higher Court of Appeal, challenging them to be incorrect in both shareholding pattern as well as the amount payable. However, the Supreme Court established a bench comprising of three judges to evaluate the appeal and decide on whether the appeal from the Ventriglias should be accepted or not. These judges included Mumba Malila, Royda Kaoma and Michael Musonda. According to their final decision, the claim from the Ventriglias cannot be accepted as the law suggests that appeal must be made within fourteen days after the judgement from the court. In this case, the judgement from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019 which is almost two years and therefore, the appeal has been dismissed on legal grounds. At the same time, the Supreme Court judges also said that they did not have any jurisdiction towards entertaining this appeal as the circumstances were legally flawed.

Zambezi Portland Cement Belongs To Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, Confirms Supreme Court Zambia

The final decision from the higher Court of Appeal came on 31st January 2019 and according to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was announced as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. At the same time, justice Siavwapa from the higher Court of Appeal announced that the amount payable by the Finsbury Investments against the majority shares of Zambezi Portland Cement was K580,000 and not K580 million.

Family members of the Ventriglias family, Antonio and Manuela Ventriglia have not appealed against this decision from the higher Court of Appeal. This appeal was made at the Supreme Court of Zambia, the country’s highest legal system. In this appeal, they have contented that the judge at the higher Court of Appeal changed the judgement by ordering that the Zambezi Portland Cement Limited register should reflect Ital Terrazzo Limited holding 42 percent shares. The Ventriglias also contended that the amount ruled by Judge Siavwapa to be paid to the Ventriglias against the majority shares by Finsbury Investments was incorrect. According to the them, the right payment was K580 million.

Soon after the appeal was made to the Supreme Court by the Ventriglias, it was rejected on several grounds. First, law suggests that appeal must be made within 14 days of final judgement from the previous court. In this case, the judgement was given more than a year ago. Furthermore, the bench of Supreme Court judges declared that they did not have any jurisdiction in taking the case as the circumstances surrounding the appeal by the Ventriglias were dubious and even if the appeal is taken, it will amount to nothing as the decision from Supreme Court will be same as the previous court, higher Court of Appeal. Based on this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani remains the actual owner and majority shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

Unethical And Defamatory Post Against Dr. Rajan Mahtani Found Fake

Being one of the top businessmen in Zambia, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has several professional and personal business relationship with industry leaders, political leaders as well as leaders from several industries. At the same time, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has always ensured that his business relationships and professional relationships with the industry leaders are transparent and ethical.

One such transparent yet long-standing bond was shared between Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani and Levy Mwanawasa, the ex-President of Zambia who passed away recently. Dr. Mahtani’s friendship with Levy Mwanawasa goes way back, even before the latter became the President of Zambia. As a result, the conspiracy theory generated by one of the family members of the late E-President of Zambia was extremely controversial. Miriam Mwanawasa is the daughter of the late Ex-President and in a controversial Facebook Post, she claimed that Dr. Rajan Mahtani wanted to inherit the farmland at Masaiti district which is owned by the Mwanawasa family. Since this was an extremely controversial claim, it started to spread. While Dr. Rajan Mahtani rarely pays heed to such false and negative rumours about him or his companies, it was necessary to take action against this social media post considering its defamatory nature.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani decided to take action against this unethical post by releasing a press statement to the media. In this press release, Dr. Rajan Mahtani clarified that though he had a long-standing and transparent friendship with late Levy Mwanawasa, he never made any claims, requests or mentions of taking away their farmland. At the same time, Dr. Mahtani also highlighted the fact that the claims made my Miriam Mwanawasa were without any proof or evidence. It was just a social media post which was retracted later. As such, it was confirmed that the Facebook post was a conspiracy act with the objective of defaming the image of an ethical businessman. Dr. Mahtani will be taking stringent actions against this post.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani Contributes To Zambian Education Sector With Philanthropic Work

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is among those few private entrepreneurs in Zambia who does not promote or advertise their philanthropic activities and charitable contributions. As a result, not many of the media and educational fraternity were aware of the fact that Dr. Rajan Mahtani funded the Steven Malama award. With the law education of Zambia, the Steven Malama award has achieved a significant reputation. This reputation has been as a result of significant achievements.

The Steven Malama award is given to the top graduating law student from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal education. The award was inaugurated in the year 2013 and the award for the year 2018-19 was given recently. This prestigious award not only improves competitive attitude and hardworking behaviour among the law students of ZIALE, but has also attracted many law firms and private businesses to the institutes, thereby enhancing its overall competitiveness and overall ranking in the education market.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani, who is the Chairman of Finance Bank Zambia, established this award in memory of late Steven Malama. Dr. Rajan Mahtani shared a close friendship with late Steven Malama and identified him as a distinguished legal professional, bar veteran and contributor of law improvements in Zambia. For instance, Steven Malama’s contributions were instrumental in bringing the Solicitor’s and Barrister’s bar into a single and merged bar after significant persuasion of the Government of Zambia. It was therefore, a right step by Dr. Rajan Mahtani to make this name memorable and inspire numerous future generations of law professional to dedicate themselves towards upliftment of the Zambian legal framework.

The 2018-19 recipient of the award was Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba. After receiving this award, Emmanuel penned an article in which he thanked Dr. Mahtani for his significant contribution in increasing recognition of law education in Zambia. The award carries a plaque, certificate as well as prize money worth K15,000

Dr. Rajan Mahtani Contributes To Educational Platform, Students Than Via News Release

Dr. Rajan Mahtani is among the most transparent and ethical businessmen in Zambia. He is known for his noted businesses and ventures as well as his penchant for transparency, ethical and honest business practices. Apart from these, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has also established a positive reputation around himself for his philanthropic and charitable activities. Since his early successes, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been contributing towards the social and economic development of the Zambian nation. At the same time, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is known to expose all those who engage in unethical and illegal practices and has never associated himself with such scrupulous individuals and groups. As such, several newspaper articles, news media and other groups continue to create negative reputation campaigns against Dr. Rajan Mahtani but these campaign are most of the times invalid, fake and are rejected by the media and general people.

On the other hand, Dr. Rajan Mahtani rarely shares or highlights his own philanthropic and charitable activities and these are known to general people only when his contributions are shared by independent newspapers and writers. Recently, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was praised for his philanthropic contributions to the educational sector of Zambia. Dr. Rajan Mahtani via his company Finance Bank Zambia had launched an educational award in 2013. This award is named as Steven Malama Award and it is given every year to the best graduating student from the ZIALE (Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education). The best graduating student also clears Bar in his/her first attempt and this honourable award celebrates the passion and dedication of the student. The award for the year 2018-19 went to Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba who expressed his gratitude towards Dr. Rajan Mahtani by penning his thoughts and sharing it with the Daily Mail. In this newspaper article, Emmanuel also thanked Dr. Mahtani for his personal congratulations letter for his significant achievement as well as shared his gratitude for the huge award money of K15,000 which the topper student receives every year.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani Praised For Contributing To The Zambian Education System And Framework

Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the most respected and reputed businessman in Zambia. Since his early business establishments, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has made significant business as well as philanthropic investments for the improvement of Zambian nation. One of these philanthropic contributions has been in the field of education, especially legal education framework in Zambia.

An article was recently published at the Daily Mail where the top graduating student from the ZIALE expressed gratitude toward Dr. Rajan Mahtani for his noteworthy commitment to the instructive society. The Steven Malama award was propelled in the year 2012 by Finance Bank Zambia whose present Chairman is Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani. This award was propelled for honouring memory of Steven Mwaba Malama. Steven Malama was an outstanding legal professional of Zambia and was distinguished individual from the bar. He was an old friend of Dr. Rajan Mahtani and to respect his commitments to the general public, this award was built up. The award is given to the top graduating student from ZIALE (Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education). ZIALE is one of the top law universities in Zambia and the award goes to the student qualifying bar in the first attempt.

Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba won the award for the year 2018-19. To share his appreciation, an article was written by Emmanuel which expressed gratitude toward Dr. Rajan Mahtani for his noteworthy commitment to the legal education in Zambia. Aside from the renowned award which in itself is a recognized accomplishment, the triumphant student will receive a plaque and cash worth K15,000. The award money has been utilised by the winning students for advancing their career as well as getting higher degrees and advanced legal certificates. In spite of the different troubles and difficulties, Dr. Rajan Mahtani keeps on working towards the welfare and development of the Zambian society and its people.

Court Of Appeal Finalizes Statement On Portland Cement Factory, Announces Dr. Mahtani As Winner

For the past many decades, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been fighting a lone war for the takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. This battle started more than a decade ago when Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani registered a complaint at the Lusaka High Court regarding unethical takeover of his factory. With this complaint, several evidences, testimonials and other details were shared before the court, proving Dr. Mahtani’s claims. However, legal and political bureaucracy and corruption resulted in the case being dragged for more than a decade. The case further dragged for lack of appropriate court proceedings and frequent transfer of judges. The final decision for the Portland Cement Zambia came during the month of May, 2018. However, it is worth noting here that just two months before the final decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani received a positive news regarding the case with the judge announcing that case proceedings have been closed and the final decision will be given based on available evidences and testimonials.

Despite this, the final decision from the Lusaka High Court judge was extremely controversial. In this judgement, Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia. This decision was extremely misdirected and against the evidences shared. As a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the higher Court of Appeal with the hope of getting justice. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal, justice Mwinde, announced the final decision on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani paid a sum of one billion kwachas to the Portland Cement Zambia in the year 2005. This payment was made for receiving majority shareholding of the factory. The shareholders’ agreement further confirmed this payment by confirming that this payment gave Dr. Mahtani ownership of 58 percent Portland Cement Zambia shares. Based on these evidences, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

Decision from the Lusaka High Court was condemned by higher Court of Appeal.

Court Of Appeal Effectively Reverses The Judgement From The Lusaka Hc On Portland Cement

The Court of Appeal is the highest-level judicial system in Zambia. The Court recently reversed the judgement from the Lusaka High Court which was delivered in the year 2018 by justice Nkonde. This decision from the Lusaka High Court said that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

After Dr. Rajan Mahtani re-appealed to the higher Court of Appeal, justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal evaluated the submitted evidences, testimonials and other facts associated with the case. After evaluation, it was found that the decision from the Lusaka High Court was indeed misdirected. According to the actual evidence, it was found that Dr. Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments paid a sum of one billion kwachas or USD 250,000 to the Portland Cement Zambia limited. This amount covered the value of the entire share capital associated with the factory. Furthermore, another major evidence associated with the case was the original shareholder’s agreement. In the page number 663 of this shareholders’ agreement, it was found that Dr. Mahtani was given ownership of 58 percent shares of the factory and it also confirmed that Dr. Mahtani did not owe any further costs associated with the case. This shareholders’ agreement was accepted by all major shareholders related to the case and therefore, confirmed the case further.

Several other details were shared by the court in this case. It was found that forgery related allegations were unethical. The process of mechanical placement of signatures was common in Portland Cement Zambia and an acceptable practice. As a result, all forgery related allegations were discarded by the judge.

After looking into the evidences, testimonials and other details, justice Mwinde on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal gave the final decision on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder and actual owner of the factory. The judge also gave a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement for completion of share sales and regulation related activities.