On 31st January 2019, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was given the final judgement on the long-pending Portland Cement Zambia case. It can be easily regarded as one of the longest running corporate cases in Zambia. Dr. Rajan Mahtani had initially approached the Lusaka High Court when this cement factory was illegally taken away from him. Since then, Dr. Mahtani is fighting a lone battle for the legal takeover of the bank. Recently, the judge at the Lusaka High Court provided a judgement on this long-pending case. While Dr. Rajan Mahtani expected an easy and quick win, he was not granted the same as justice Nkonde from the Lusaka High Court announced Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. As a result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani was left with no option but to approach the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal is among the highest civilian court system in Zambia. The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who announced the final judgement on the case on 31st January 2019. This judgement was given after looking into the evidences and testimonials. According to this 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 is the minority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with only 42 percent shares. This shareholding pattern aligns with the original shareholders agreement which was established in 2007. As per this decision, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the legal owner of the factory.
Furthermore, the judge at the Court of Appeal also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement as this decision was misdirected and against the interests of the public policies.