After a long battle across two courts, Dr. Mahtani is finally the winner of the Portland Cement Zambia case. After the Lusaka High Court failed to provide any decision, the higher Court of Appeal was approached. It is the highest-level justice system in Zambia and expectations were high. The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde and he did not disappoint. Unlike the previous judge, justice Mwinde shared all evidences while declaring his final decision on the case. The most important evidence was that Dr. Mahtani had made a payment of one billion kwachas which equals 250000 US dollars to the Zambezi Portland Cement in exchange for 58 percent shares at the Zambezi Portland Cement factory. This exchange was made in the year 2005 and was further officially written in the original shareholders’ agreement established in the year 2007. Justice Mwinde said that the page number 663, volume-record of appeal of this shareholders’ agreement clearly indicated that Dr. Mahtani has already made the entire payment for the 58 percent shares he owns at the factory and is free from any other charges associated with the case. The details from this original report also indicated that the responsibility of PTT (Property Transfer Tax) was on the transferor and not the transferee.
Furthermore, justice Mwinde also cleared the air around the issue of forgery and fraud in the factory. According to the judge, electronic affixing of signatures was common and acceptable practice at Zambezi Portland Cement for conducting business transactions. As such, all fraud or forgery related appeals were then and there discarded. These details were shared on 31st January 2019 and on this date only the final decision on the Zambezi Portland Cement was announced. While giving this crucial judgement, justice Mwinde also condemned the judge from the lower court for their inability to provide justice despite having all evidences and facts to prove Dr. Mahtani’s innocence and legal ownership over the factory.