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.