Tag Archives: Zambia News

Majority Shareholding Goes To Finsbury Investments, Portland Cement Zambia Case Closed

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The Portland Cement Zambia case has been finally closed. The case started more than a decade ago when it was registered at the Lusaka High Court by none other than Dr. Rajan Mahtani. Dr. Mahtani had claimed the legal and actual ownership of Portland Cement Zambia and also claimed that the factory was unethically and forcefully taken away from him. Despite having all evidences, facts and testimonials for re-claiming his factory, the Lusaka High Court dragged the case for more than a decade. Major reasons attributing to this long pendency can be lack of proper ethical standings at the court, regular transfers of judges leading to case starting again from the scratch, unethical acts from the opponents such as not attending case hearing or bribing the department and many more. As a result of these challenges, it took more than a decade to make a final announcement to the case. However, even this announcement was controversial. The judge at the Lusaka High Court giving the final judgement was justice Nkonde who announced that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Portland Cement Zambia.

After this, the second and most important phase of the case started. Dr. Rajan Mahtani took the case to the Court of Appeal, one of the highest civilian courts in Zambia. The judge who took the case was justice Mwinde and he gave the final decision on 31st January 2019, around nine months after the re-appeal. Unlike the previous judges, justice Mwnde looked into all evidences and testimonials and only after complete checking, shared the final results. As per this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory as he owns 58 percent shares of the factory. The Ventriglias, on the other hand, hold just 42 percent shares at the factory and are the minority shareholders without any legal ownership. Based on this decision from the Court of Appeal judge, it is clearly established that Dr. Rajan Mahtani is the actual owner of the Portland Cement Zambia factory.

Portland Cement Zambia Legal Ownership Goes Back To Dr. Rajan Mahtani, Confirms Court Of Appeal

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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.

Court Of Appeal Delivers True Justice For The Zambezi Portland Cement With Its Decision

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For the past one decade, Zambezi Portland Cement has been at the centre of the corporate scandals. It is a noted cement-manufacturing company which was founded under the leadership of Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, a noted businessman and philanthropist in Zambia. In a span of three decades, Dr. Mahtani has established a string empire of successful businesses along with reputation of being one of the most transparent, ethical and honest businessman in Zambia. Some of his top companies are Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Finance Bank Zambia. For the past ten years, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been fighting for the legal takeover of the Zambezi Portland Cement. During this long tenure, he shared numerous evidences and testimonials which experts suggested were more than enough to prove his legal ownership over the factory. As a result, it was shocking for everyone when the judge at the Lusaka High Court announced that Ventriglias were only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. Dr. Mahtani was left with no choice but to approach the Court of Appeal.

Portland Cement Zambia

The Court of Appeal announced its final judgment on 31st January 2019. According to this final judgment, Finsbury Investments is majority shareholder of Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ital Terrazzo Limited which is owned by the Ventriglias family holds 42 percent shares and is the minority shareholder. Accordingly, the legal ownership of the factory goes to Dr. Mahtani who is the owner of the Finsbury Investments. This decision is in line with the original Shareholders Agreement established in the year 2007. Furthermore, the judge at the Court of Appeal also condemned the decision by the Lusaka High Court by saying the judgment was morally wrong.

As of now, all parties are required to regularize the process of sales of shares as per the decision by the Court of Appeal and the process must be completed within three months.

Top Legal Counsellors Including Sakwiba Sikota Convicted of Laundering Money

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The recent money laundering news from Financial Intelligence has created an uproar among the citizens as well as the industrialists across Zambia. While illegal activities and unethical practices such as these are not uncommon here, the extent of this mass money laundering and its reach is unbelievable. According to the FIC reports, more than 1.5 billion worth of money has been taken in this mass money laundering bust and top lawyers, legal counsellors as well as ministers are involved in the scheme.

Money Laundering News

While there were numerous names in the list, some of the lawyers were highlighted for their involvement and high worth of money laundered. Among these were Masozi M. Banda and Sakwiba Sikota. Banda is a noted lawyer from Avic International and Sakwiba Sikota is the owner of Central Chambers, another law firm. Both these lawyers have been accused of laundering money worth more than USD 1 million each, which is staggering. When Masozi Banda was confronted with the news, he simply stated that the money in his account belongs to Edgar Lungu and he received the amount for government contractors such as the construction of roads. However, no such projects were recorded in the government books. Furthermore, Sakwiba Sikota is also noted for his long-term relationship as legal counsellor for the Ventriglias, who are infamous for their unethical practices. Some of the most outrageous activities by the Ventriglias included taking over the Portland Cement Zambia factory from Dr. Rajan Mahtani, the factory’s real owner and being able to escape law and order by exploiting the loopholes of the Zambian law and government.

While the Portland Cement Zambia case is nearing soon and Dr. Mahtani is expecting a good win, the same cannot be said for Sakwiba Sikota as his crimes and unethical practices have become too big to hide. The FIC officials have told that they have prime evidence against these money launderers and are continuing the investigation process with even more religiously and will share the details of their report once completed.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s Charitable Work makes African Forum a Successful Event

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Development and prosperity of a nation is not the responsibility of government only. It is the responsibility of the entire citizens, businessmen, industrialists as well as all those who are staying and gaining something from the nation. As such, it is essential for successful companies as well as successful individuals to step up and contribute towards the growth and development of the nation. This growth and development by companies and individuals is generally termed as CSR or corporate social responsibility. However, one of the major benefits for companies and individuals engaging in corporate social responsibility acts is that they gain much positive attention from these activities and improve their overall reputation. Therefore, majority of these companies and individuals engaging in CSR activities also promote them, for improving their reputation or brand value.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani

However, there are also individuals and businessmen who have been engaged in charitable and philanthropic activities for long without branding themselves one or advertising their charitable works for personal gain. However, only few individuals in Zambia do this and one of them is Dr. Rajan Mahtani. Majority of us are not aware of the charitable activities and funding contributions by Dr. Rajan Mahtani; as he does not advertise these deeds. We recently came to know about his charitable contribution when the Chief Press Secretary of the Prison Fellowship Zambia, the event organisers for the 2017 African Forum Summit, revealed about the contributions of Dr. Rajan Mahtani in a press release. He was thanked for his funding contribution that resulted in the success of the event. He was even admired for his grounded attitude and helping nature by having meaningful conversations with the young candidates at the forum and giving them useful information regarding business and growth. He also contributed in the forum success by talking about the present corruption and unethical activities in Zambia and solutions to reduce them in future.