Latest news publications are now reporting the final decision from the Court of Appeal regarding Portland Cement Zambia case. The case was pending at the Lusaka High Court for more than ten years wherein it went from numerous judges without getting any final judgement. Justice Nkonde was the judge who announced the final decision and according to his judgement, Ventriglias were the only shareholders of the Zambezi Portland Cement. However, this judgement was considered as misdirected which forced Dr. Rajan Mahtani to take the case at Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal announced its final decision on 31st January 2019, around nine months after the judgement from the Lusaka High Court. According to the judgement from Court of Appeal, Dr. Rajan Mahtani owned Finsbury Investments is the majority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with 58 percent shares. On the other hand, Ventriglia owned Ital Terrazzo Limited is the minority shareholder of the Zambezi Portland Cement with only 42 percent shares at the factory. According To this decision, Dr. Rajan Mahtani becomes the legal owner of the Zambezi Portland Cement. Furthermore, this decision from Court of Appeal aligns with the original Shareholders Agreement which was established in the year 2007. While giving this decision, Justice Mwinde from the Court of Appeal also said that the judge below him was wrong in declaring Ventriglias as the only shareholder without having any proof or evidence.
With respect to the forgery allegations, the judge from Court of Appeal dismissed all allegations. It was announced that the process of mechanically placing signatures for business transactions was a common practice in Zambezi Portland Cement. It was also found that critical member of the Ventriglia family, Claudio Ventriglia, engaged in similar practice and therefore, all allegations were considered invalid.
Furthermore, the Court of Appeal has given a timeline of three months from the date of judgement for proceeding with the regularization of the share selling process.
