Portland Cement Zambia case is finally over. This is good news for Dr. Rajan Mahtani who has been fighting for the legal takeover of the case for more than a decade. Dr. Mahtani is one of the few notable businessmen in Zambia still following the difficult yet rewarding path of transparency and ethical business practices. He is known for establishing and leading companies and business ventures in Zambia. Some of his top companies are Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Finance Bank Zambia. He is also the actual owner of Portland Cement Zambia for which he fought for more than a decade. After the factory was illegally taken over from him, Dr. Rajan Mahtani registered the case at the Lusaka High Court. Despite sharing all evidences and testimonials, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was not given justice and the case dragged for more than a decade. The judge who gave the final judgement was justice Nkonde who announced that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement.
It was clear that the judgement was misdirected and as a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani approached the Court of Appeal. The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the final judgement on 31st January 2019. According to this final decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglias owned Ital Terrazzo Limited holds just 42 percent shares at the factory and is the minority shareholder without any legal ownership. This decision also aligned with the original shareholders agreement established in the year 2007. Based on this decision, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.
Justice Mwinde also gave a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement for completing the share sales and regulation related activities.