Corporate wars can get real ugly. This can be easily seen in the current war going on between Finsbury Investments & Ital Terrazzo Limited. Finsbury Investments is owned by Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, a successful businessman noted for his charitable activities and philanthropist nature. On the other hand, Ital Terrazzo Limited is owned by the Ventriglias, a private family from Italy based in Zambia. The nature of business at Ital Terrazzo Limited is not known and their sole beneficiaries are the Ventriglias family. Both corporate firms have invested significant finances, time, resources and manpower in this case, which is shareholder dispute of the Zambezi Portland Cement. Both parties have claimed their ownership over the factory. The case was first launched by Dr. Rajan Mahtani at the Lusaka High Court when he alleged that the factory was illegally taken over by the Ventriglias. On the other hand, the Ventriglias claimed that the shares owned by Dr. Mahtani in the Zambezi Portland were not paid. This case is running for nine years without any success.
The current judge handling this case has announced the latest update on the case. The hearing for the case is closed. Both parties have been asked to submit their evidence in written and oral forms by December 2017. After evaluating these submissions, the judge will arrive at a final decision. Now, this is positive news for Dr. Mahtani and his team as they have ample of evidence to prove his real ownership over the factory. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, are the real reasons for such a delay in court proceedings. On numerous occasions, they were either absent or made some excuse for not providing evidence to support their claims. However, the final decision is near and as per popular opinion, Dr. Mahtani is going to sweep this case with a huge win.