The case of Portland Cement Zambia can be easily described as long and sustained case of blatant arbitrariness and criminality within the corporate sector. Dr. Rajan Mahtani has made a name for himself with transparent and ethical business practices. The Portland Cement Zambia was established in 2004 and in 2006, the majority shareholding was given to Dr. Rajan Mahtani after agreement with the shareholders and establishing an official agreement. However, the Ventriglias decided to disrupt the smooth operations of the factory by taking control over the factory by unethical means. To this end, Dr. Rajan Mahtani registered a case at the Lusaka High Court to fight for the takeover of the factory. However, the Ventriglias resorted to unethical pettiness, corporate meddling and power games to take control over the case. The Ventriglias disputed the legal authenticity of the shareholders agreement and used their corporate power to effect critical changes within PACRA system, resulting in creating inconsistency within the original shareholders agreement. These activities by the Ventriglias can only be considered as acts of hardcore corporate criminality. Nevertheless, these activities certainly impacted the decision of the Lusaka High Court which resulted in Ventriglias gaining ownership of the Portland Cement Zambia.
The move by Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani to approach the higher Court of Appeal was an appropriate one. Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the higher Court within legal obligations and on 31st January 2019, the final decision on the case was given by justice Mwinde. According to this decision, the judgement from Lusaka High Court was effectively reversed and Dr. Rajan Mahtani was given majority shareholding and legal ownership of the factory.
Nevertheless, the Ventriglias made a surprising appeal by challenging the decision of the higher Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court Zambia. However, this appeal was effectively rejected by the Supreme Court judges as the appeal did not have any legal precedence or evidentiary support. As such, ownership of Portland Cement remains with Dr. Rajan Mahtani.