The final results for the long-pending Portland Cement Zambia case were announced on 31st January 2019. This announcement came from Court of Appeal, one of the highest legal systems in Zambia. Before Court of Appeal, the case of Portland Cement Zambia was pending at the Lusaka High Court for more than a decade. The case was initially registered by Dr. Rajan Mahtani himself after claiming that the factory was illegally taken over from him. After sharing numerous evidences and testimonials, the judge at the Lusaka High Court shared the final decision. However, this decision was extremely controversial as according to this, Ventriglias were announced as only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement.
To counter this controversial and misdirected decision, Dr. Mahtani then approached the Court of Appeal. The judge at the Court of Appeal was justice Mwinde who gave the final decision on 31st January 2019 during the morning session. Compared to the one decade wait at the Lusaka High Court, this was a speedy decision as justice Mwinde gave the final judgement within nine months of registering the case at the Lusaka High Court. Also, the decision was given only after looking into all evidences and testimonials which were somehow ignored by the previous judge. According to the final decision from the Court of Appeal, 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 over the factory. Based on this decision, it is clear that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the legal owner of the factory. Justice Mwinde, while giving this decision, also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as only shareholders as this decision was without any basis and was against the interest of the public policies.
