Final results from the Court of Appeal regarding the Portland Cement Zambia case were recently announced. This decision was announced on 31st January 2019. Justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal announced this decision. According to this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments holds 58 percent shares at the factory and is the majority shareholder of the factory. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and is the minority shareholder with no legal ownership. The judge also confirmed that this decision aligned with the original shareholders agreement established in the year 2007. As a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani automatically becomes the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement factory.
Before Court of Appeal, Dr. Rajan Mahtani had registered the case at the Lusaka High Court. The case ran there for more than a decade and was under several judges. Justice Nkonde was the one who announced the final judgment. Before announcing the final judgment which happened in the month of May, 2018, Justice Nkonde had previously announced that the case hearing was closed and all parties were asked to submit their evidences and testimonials in written and oral format so that they can be evaluated for final decision. This was extremely positive news for Dr. Rajan Mahtani as he had all the required evidences and testimonials for proving his legal ownership. However, the judgement from the Lusaka High Court was shocking when it was announced that the Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. This was the reason for Dr. Mahtani approaching the Court of Appeal.
After announcing the judgement at the Court of Appeal, justice Mwinde also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders as this decision was against the interests of the public policies. The judge also discarded all forgery related allegations during the case hearings.