The case of Portland Cement Zambia is age-old. The case was established by Dr. Rajan Mahtani almost ten years back at the Lusaka High Court. After the initial registration, the case went from one proceeding date to another and from one judge to another. It took more than ten years for the court to announce its final decision on the Portland Cement Zambia case. Despite sharing critical evidence and testimonials which were more than enough for the closure of the case, the final decision by the Lusaka High Court was controversial. The final judgement was given by Justice Nkonde and he announced that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. It was clear that this judgement was misdirected and as a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani took the right step by approaching Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal announced its judgement on 31st January 2019. This judgement was given by justice Mwinde which he announced during the morning court session. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited is the minority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with only 42 percent shares at the factory. This decision aligns with the original shareholders agreement which was established in the year 2007. Based on this decision, Dr. Mahtani is clearly the legal owner of the factory.
While giving this decision, the judge from the Court of Appeal also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement as this decision was misdirected and without any evidence. Furthermore, a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement was provided during which all share sales process must be completed by all parties, based on the given decision by the court.