Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a well-respected businessman in Zambia who fought for the legal takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia for more than a decade. After the unethical takeover of the factory, Dr. Rajan Mahtani took the right step and approached the Lusaka High Court. However, it took more than a decade for the judges to announce the final results, that too a complicated one. According to the final decision from the Lusaka High Court judge, Ventriglias were announced as the only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia factory. It was clearly a misdirected judgement and Dr. Rajan Mahtani then approached the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal announced its final decision on 31st January 2019. This decision was given by justice Mwinde, a notable and respected judge from the Court of Appeal. This judgement was given after looking into all evidences and testimonials which were controversially ignored by the Lusaka High Court. As per this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owns Finsbury Investments which in turn owns 58 percent shares at the Portland Cement Zambia factory. On the other hand, the Ventriglias own an entity names Ital Terrazzo Limited which in turns own 48 percent shares at the factory. Based on this shareholding pattern, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the actual owner of the factory. The judge at the Court of Appeal also confirmed that this decision aligned with the original shareholders agreement established in the year 2007.
The judge from the Court of Appeal also cleared some air around other speculations. The appal for fraud for discarded by justice Mwinde as it was found that the process of mechanical placement of signatures for business transactions was a common practice in Zambia and as a result, there was no evidence to support that Dr. Rajan Mahtani engaged in any unethical practice and thus the allegations were discarded.