Supreme Court Of Zambia Declares Claim By The Ventriglias On Portland Cement Zambia Invalid

In the year 2019, justice Siavwapa on behalf of the higher Court of Appeal had declared Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments as the majority shareholder and legal owner of the factory. This decision from the higher Court of Appeal overturned the previous decision from the Lusaka High Court judge according to which Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Portland Cement. The Ventriglias has since challenged this final decision from the higher Court of Appeal by taking the case to the Supreme Court of Zambia. In this appeal, the Ventriglias claimed that the shareholding pattern decided at the higher Court of Appeal was incorrect. They also challenged the amount payable against the majority shares by saying that the actual amount was K580 million.

However, a bench of three judges at the Supreme Court of Zambia rejected this appeal on several grounds. Firstly, the Ventriglias were a little too late in appealing before the biggest court of a nation as the law says that individuals are required to appeal with 14 days of the final judgement from the Court. However, the Ventriglias waited more than a year for making such appeal and this appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court on account of lack of jurisdiction. According to the bench of the Supreme Court judges, they won’t be able to touch this appeal made by the Ventriglias as the law indicates that the purposes, intents as well as escalation of the appeal to the court will amount to nothing. It was further stated that the appeal made in question was purposefully launched and was dismissed on accounts of the costs. As such, the appeal made to the Supreme Court of Zambia has been rejected and Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments stays the majority shareholder and legal owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.