The Lusaka High Court of Zambia gave new hope to Zambezi Portland Cement and those legally associated with it. The cement factory has been suffering badly as a result of the ongoing war between Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments Limited and Ital Terrazzo Limited, a company with the Ventriglias as the sole beneficiary. The company was previously in ownership of Dr. Rajan Mahtani where it flourished. After that, it was forcefully taken over by the Ventriglias who claim that the factory is their own property.

Since then, a case was launched at the high court and fight for the ownership has been going on for almost 9 years. Dr. Rajan Mahtani holds majority of shares of the factory which is 58 percent. The rest is distributed among the Ventriglias and other shareholders. Also, the share capital payment for the cement factory was paid entirely by Finsbury Investments with no support from the Ventriglias of their company. During this course, the Ventriglias, especially the husband-wife duo Antonio & Manuela Ventriglia have launched a counterclaim that the shares of Dr. Mahtani were not paid for. However, this accusation was dismissed as Dr. Mahtani had proper evidence of shareholder agreement, financial exhibits and audit reports by independent audits that showed that his company, Finsbury Investments Limited, paid more than USD 8 million as investments and in ZPC share capital. On the other hand, the Ventriglias have not invested even a single dime in the share capital purchase. Dr. Mahtani was further accused by the defendants of arm-twisting and forcing a shareholder for personal gain. To this, Dr. Rajan Mahtani tactfully replied that he won’t be gaining anything from arm-twisting one shareholder which makes the accusations entirely false and made up.

From the above facts, it is clear that the Ventriglias do not have any real and strong evidences and as a result, they are constantly trying to discredit Dr. Mahtani in front of the court to prove their claim. However, this tactic has not worked so far and Dr. Mahtani is in a much stronger position than their defendants.