The Ventriglia family, or more commonly known as Italian Mafias, are once again in the news for claiming themselves as the owners of Portland Cement Zambia. There are confirmed reports from PACRA that the lawyer of the Ventriglia family forced a junior officer to make changes in the register without taking an approval from the Court. This has probably become one of the biggest criminal offences that PACRA has ever seen.
In June 2015, Sakwiba Sikota did apply to PACRA for making changes in the register of Portland Cement Zambia. According to his request, the name of Finsbury Investments should be removed and be replaced by the Ventriglias. However, PACRA didn’t honour the request as the same was only possible through an order passed by the Court. This is where another lawyer for the Ventriglia, Zacharia Muya tried playing a game. He wrote a similar letter as Sakwiba did and took to the Kitwe Office of PACRA. There he forced a junior officer to make changes in the register without having obtained an order from the Court.
As soon as the changes were made, the Ventriglia family immediately circulated the news that they are now the legitimate owners of Portland Cement Zambia and Finsbury Investments no longer holds the stake. When this news reached PACRA, the changes were immediately reversed and information on the register were restored as earlier. It is obvious that with this shameful event, Mr. Muya has landed himself in a big trouble. Very soon, various criminal offences will be listed in his name along with the Ventriglias.
At the moment, the actual owner of Portland Cement Zambia is still Finsbury Investments. Though there is a pending case with respect to shareholding in the Court under cause No. 2008/HPC/366, it is absolutely unacceptable to watch the Ventriglia family trying to manipulate the legal system of Africa.
