On 31st January 2019, the ultimate ownership of Portland Cement Zambia was announced. This announcement came more than a decade after the case was initially registered by Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The case of Portland Cement Zambia is age old and was first launched by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman and philanthropist. Dr. Mahtani claimed that the factory was illegally taken away from him when registering the case at the Lusaka High Court. To support his claim, numerous evidences and testimonials were submitted before the court. While these evidences and testimonials were sufficient enough to conclude legal ownership of the Portland Cement Zambia factory, the judge at the Lusaka High Court was thinking otherwise. According to the decision from Lusaka High Court judge which came in the month of May 2018, Ventriglias were announced as majority shareholder of the Portland Cement Zambia.
It was clear that this judgement was misdirected and as result, Dr. Rajan Mahtani again registered the case at the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal is among the highest governing bodies in Zambia and announced its final decision on 31st January 2019. This final decision was announced by justice Mwinde. 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 holds just 42 percent shares and is the minority shareholder without any legal ownership over the factory. While giving this judgement, Justice Mwinde also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as the only shareholders as this decision was misdirected and without any evidence.
As of now, a timeline of three months from the date of the judgement has been provided by the Court of Appeal judge during which all share sales and regulation related activities must be completed.