The final decision from the Lusaka High Court can be easily categorised as one of the most controversial decision given by the court on any case. The case of Portland Cement Zambia has been one of the most straightforward cases and despite this fact, the case remained at the court for more than ten years. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is one of the most respected, transparent and honest businessmen in Zambia. As such, when he approached the Lusaka High Court with his claim that the factory was unethically taken over from him, he expected similar transparent and ethical justice from the court. To support his claim, several evidences and testimonials were shared before the court. Even a significant positive announcement was made by the Lusaka High Court judge. In the year 2018, justice Nkonde announced that the case proceedings for the long-pending Portland Cement Zambia is finally closed and the final decision will be given soon based on the evidences and testimonials submitted before the court.
It was an extremely positive news for Dr. Rajan Mahtani as these evidences and testimonials were more than enough to prove Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s ownership over the factory. Despite this announcement, justice Nkonde avoided all these evidences when announcing his final verdict on the case in the month of May, 2018. In the final decision, Ventriglia family was given majority shareholding of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
To counter this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the higher Court of Appeal which was a right decision. The judge at the higher Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who looked into the evidences and gave his final decision on 31st January 2019. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was found to be the majority shareholder with 58 percent shares at the factory after giving one billion kwachas to the Portland Cement Zambia limited which covered the entire value of the share capital taken by Dr. Mahtani.