The Court of Appeal is among the highest courts in Zambia and is generally approached by either case of national level importance or those cases which were controversial or had discriminating results at the lower courts. The Portland Cement Zambia case had a similar fate wherein it was first registered by the Lusaka High Court by noted businessman Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The claim by Dr. Mahtani was that his factory, Portland Cement Zambia, was unethically taken over from him. To support his claims, several details, evidences and testimonials were shared before the court. Despite the black and white nature of the case, it took more than a decade for the judge to provide a final verdict. And that too a controversial one with a misdirected judgement.
While all these evidences indicated that Dr. Mahtani is the legal owner of the factory, justice Nkonde gave a controversial decision in which the Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of Zambezi Portland Cement. As a result of this misdirected from a high court, Dr. Rajan Mahtani had to approach the higher Court of Appeal. Surprisingly, Dr. Rajan Mahtani submitted the same evidences to the judge at the Court of Appeal which were shared before the Lusaka High Court. However, the decision from the higher Court of Appeal was totally opposite in which it was announced that Dr. Rajan Mahtani paid a sum of one billion kwachas for taking over 58 percent shares of the Portland Cement Zambia and this, regarded officially as the owner of the factory. This statement was further confirmed from the original shareholders agreement according to which Dr. Rajan Mahtani has made all payments associated with the case and is not liable for any further payments uch as the Property Transfer Tax which is the responsibility of the vendor in this case.